Baseball team beats Rockford, 13-6, in 11 innings

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Olivet College baseball team scored eight runs in the top of 11th inning en route to a 13-6 win over Rockford (Ill.) College this afternoon at the Gene Cusic Classic and inside the Player Development Complex in Fort Myers, Fla.

The Regents took a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the first inning. The Comets came back to take a 4-2 lead with a four-run fourth inning. Rockford grabbed the lead back, 5-4, with three runs in its half of the fourth. Olivet forced extra innings when sophomore Joey Myers (Holt) hit a RBI-double to score junior Dylan Betcher (Lansing/Everett) in the eighth inning. The Comets left two runners stranded on the bases in the ninth inning, and the Regents were retired in order in the eighth and ninth innings to send the game into extra innings.

Olivet broke through with a big eight-run 11th inning. Junior Jonny Zawacki (Alpena) walked with the bases loaded to score sophomore Beau Langs (Climax/Climax-Scotts) with the go-ahead run. Sophomore Peter Panos (Davison) followed with a two-run single. Later in the inning, senior Randy Young (Wixom/Walled Lake Western) hit his own two-run single with the bases loaded. Rockford scored one runs in the bottom half of the inning.

At the plate, the Comets had 10 hits. Lang and Young each recorded two hits. The top four batters in the lineup, Lang, Young, senior Andrew Brawley (Niles) and Zawacki, all scored two runs apiece. Zawacki finished with three RBI.

Junior Jake Ball (Cadillac) started on the mound and tossed seven innings, allowing five earned runs on 12 hits. Sophomore Jensen Aubry (Grayling) threw three scoreless innings of relief to earn the win. Freshman Ryan Roeske (Warren/De La Salle) pitched the 11th inning.

The Comets will wrap-up their Spring Break trip to the Sunshine State tomorrow with a 9 a.m. game against Lakeland (Wis.) College.