Baseball team walks off with 7-6 win over Hiram in 14 innings

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Sophomore Drew Thompson (Canton/Salem) hit a sacrifice fly to score senior Randy Young (Wixom/Walled Lake Western) in the 14th inning to lift the Olivet College baseball team to a 7-6 win over Hiram (Ohio) College today at the Gene Cusic Classic and inside Terry Park in Fort Myers, Fla.

Olivet led 1-0 after three innings. The Comets then scored two runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 5-0 lead. After Hiram plated two runs in the top half of the sixth and eighth innings, the Comets answered with a run in the home half of the eighth to make the score 6-4. The Terriers forced extra innings with a pair of unearned runs in the ninth inning.

In the 14th inning, senior Andrew Brawley (Niles) walked and moved to second on a single by Young. Both runners moved up one base on a single by sophomore Peter Panos (Davison). Thompson then lifted the sac fly to centerfield, scoring Young from third base.

Offensively, Young went 4-for-7, while junior Joel Peters (Auburn Hills/Avondale) had three hits and drove in two runs. Panos and sophomore Tom Kort (South Lyon) each tallied two hits. Of Olivet's 16 hits, the only extra base hit was a double by Brawley.

On the mound, senior Kyle Fisher (Vermontville/Maple Valley) started and threw the first five and two-thirds innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits. He struck out five and walked one batter. Six relievers combined to allow just two earned runs on 11 hits. Freshman Collin Capaldi (Chesterfield Twp./Anchor Bay) tossed the final three innings to pick-up the win.

The Comets will play Central (Iowa) College tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.