Baseball team ends Spring Break trip with 9-4 loss to Monmouth

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Olivet College baseball team fell to Monmouth (Ill.) College, 9-4, in its final Spring Break game at the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. The Comets finish the trip with a 2-6 record.

Olivet took an early 1-0 lead when junior Beau Langs (Climax/Climax-Scotts) crossed the plate on an RBI-groundout by senior Jonny Zawacki (Alpena). Monmoth plated four runs in the bottom half of the fourth. The Comets answered with three runs in the top of fifth inning to tie the game at 4-4.

Sophomore Stephen Botti (Decatur) walked with the bases loaded to bring in senior Tom Kort (New Hudson/South Lyon) with the first run. Junior Troy Pickard (Goshen, Ind.) then hit a sacrifice fly to plate Langs, and senior Joel Peters (Auburn Hills/Avondale) hit an RBI-single to score senior Dylan Betcher (Lansing/Everett).

The Scots pushed across what proved to be the game-winning run in the sixth inning. They added another single tally in the seventh and put the game away with a three-run eighth inning.

Olivet had only six hits in the game, with Peters going 2-for-4 at the dish. Langs scored twice. On the mound, sophomore David Hernandez (Lansing/Eastern) was tagged with the loss. Hernandez allowed five runs, four earned, on five hits after being removed from the game after letting the leadoff batter reach in the sixth inning.

The Comets are scheduled to open Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play next Saturday and Sunday, March 22-23, against Alma College, with a doubleheader at Klenk Park in Alma on Saturday and a doubleheader at the Cutler Athletic Complex in Olivet on Saturday. Both have a 1 p.m. start time.