Baseball team powers its way to 13-7 win over Rochester
The Olivet College baseball team had a season-high 18 hits en route to a 13-7 victory over non-conference foe Rochester College this afternoon in Olivet.
The Olivet College baseball team had a season-high 18 hits en route to a 13-7 victory over non-conference foe Rochester College this afternoon in Olivet.
The Warriors scored a run in the top half of the first inning. Olivet tied the game at 1-1 with an unearned run in the third. The Comets took a 6-1 lead with a five-run fourth inning. Highlighting the inning was a grand slam home run by junior Ryan Hodges (Swartz Creek).
Olivet (8-9) added another run in the fifth on a leadoff home run by freshman Phillip Sullens (Belleville). Rochester battled back and tied the game at 7-7 with three runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.
The Comets answered right back, sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring six runs on eight hits in their half of the seventh inning. In the inning, six different players each drove in a run.
Offensively, eight starters had at least one hit and the ninth starter reached base in two plate appearances. Hodges along with junior Brandon Goodman (Portage/Central), freshman Ben Kosmalski (Canton/Plymouth) and sophomore Matt Smoker (Bronson) all went 3-for-5 at the plate. Hodges and Smoker drove in four and three runs, respectively. Sullens and junior Rob Swanson (Marshall) each had two hits. Sullens scored a team-leading three runs, as he was hit by a pitch twice.
On the mound, senior Ed O'Brien (Stockbridge) started and went five innings. He yielded one runs on four hits, while striking out four. Justin Creager (Grandville), Steve Oginsky (New Lothrop), Sean Alexander (Fenton) and Braydon LaFramboise (Flushing/Mt. Morris) all followed him in relief. Alexander pitched an inning and one-third of scoreless relief to earn the win. He struck out the side in the eighth inning.
Olivet is back in action Thursday and Saturday for a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association series against Alma College. On Thursday, the doubleheader will be played at Alma's Klenk Park, beginning at 2 p.m. On Saturday, the doubleheader will be played in Olivet, starting at 1 p.m.