Baseball: Comets fall to Northland, 4-3

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Olivet College baseball team lost 4-3 to Northland (Wis.) College at the Gene Cusic Classic and in Terry Park in Fort Myers, Florida.

Batting as the home team, the Lumberjacks took the early 1-0 lead with a run in the first inning. The Comets used a two-out rally to plate two runs in the second inning. Junior Stephen Botti led off with a single. Two straight ground outs moved him up to third base. Senior Nikolai Jump singled to bring home Botti.

Jump stole both second and third base. Two straight walks loaded the bases and then senior Beau Langs drew a walk to plate Jump. Northland had its own two-out rally to score the tying run in the third inning and two more runs in the fourth inning.

Olivet got one run back in the fifth inning. Senior Jonny Zawacki reached base on an error by the right fielder, and he went all the way to third base on the error. Junior Ryan Hendricks hit a sacrifice fly to score Zawacki. The Comets left the tying run stranded in scoring position in each of the final three innings of play.

For the game, Olivet had six hits, including two singles for senior Peter Panos. On the mound, senior Collin McCririe was charged with the loss after giving up four runs, three earned, on seven hits in six innings. Botti and junior Ryan Roeske both pitched a hitless inning of relief.

The Comets play John Carroll (Ohio) University tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.