Baseball team tripped up by Kenyon, 7-5

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Olivet College baseball team fell to Kenyon (Ohio) College, 7-5, today at Terry Park in Fort Myers, Fla.

Batting as the home team, the Comets scored twice in the bottom half of the first inning. Junior Tom Kort (New Hudson/South Lyon) drew a four-pitch walk and then advanced to second on a walk. Senior Dylan Betcher (Lansing/Everett) lined a 1-2 pitch down the left field line to score Kort. Sophomore Stephen Botti (Decatur) followed with an RBI-single down the right field line to plate Betcher.

Kenyon wasted no time and tied the game with a pair of runs in the top half of the second inning. The Lords then took a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Kenyon's first run came in on a sacrifice fly. The second and third runs scored on a throwing error by Olivet's catcher.

The Comets had only one hit but took advantage of three Kenyon errors to score three runs in their half of the fourth to cause a 5-5 deadlock. Kort had an RBI-single and Betcher had a sacrifice fly to drive another run. The Lords scored what proved to be the game-winning runs in the eighth inning. Olivet brought the tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings but failed to score.

For the game, the Comets were held to seven hits, including three for Betcher. Sophomore Colin Boak (Fowlerville) started on the mound and threw seven innings. He gave up five runs, two earned, on seven hits, but did not factor in the pitching decision. Junior Collin McCririe (Brighton) was tagged with the loss, as he gave up the two unearned runs in the eighth inning. Senior Jonny Zawacki (Alpena) tossed one and one-third innings of scoreless relief.

Olivet returns to the field tomorrow morning for a 9 a.m. game versus Alvernia (Pa.) College.