Baseball: Comets come up short against Thiel, 6-4

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Olivet College baseball team came up short against Thiel (Pa.) College, 6-4, today at the Gene Cusic Classic and inside the Player Development Complex (PDC) in Fort Myers, Florida.

The Comets took advantage of two Thiel errors to plate three runs in the bottom half of the first inning. With the bases full, senior Drew Thompson hit the ball to third baseman, who stepped on third for an out but was not able to turn the double, allowing senior Beau Langs to score. Senior Peter Panos then scored on throwing error by the catcher before junior Zach Kitzmiller hit a double to plate Thompson.

The Tomcats responded with two runs in the top half of the second to trim their deficit down to one, 3-2. Thiel then went ahead 5-3 with a three-run third inning. Olivet got one run back in the fifth when Kitzmiller drove in senior Jonny Zawacki who reached on an error to start the inning.

The Comets left the tying run stranded in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings. The Tomcats added an insurance run on a solo home run to lead off the eighth inning. Olivet had only one base runner over the final two innings.

Making his first start of the season, Kitzmiller was 2-for-4 with a double, a single and two RBI. Senior Nikolai Jump also collected two hits. Freshman lefty Michael O'Brien started on the mound and lasted only two and one-third innings to be charged with the loss. He gave up five earned runs on three hits. Junior Mitch Galloway threw three and two-thirds innings of one-hit ball in relief. 

After taking tomorrow off, the Comets return to the PDC Tuesday morning for a 9 a.m. game versus MacMurray (Ill.) College.