Baseball: Comets split Senior Day doubleheader against Hope

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College baseball team closed out the 2015 season by splitting a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) doubleheader against Hope College on Senior Day at the Cutler Athletic Complex in Olivet. Behind a complete game pitching performance from junior Mitch Galloway, the Comets won the first game, 3-1. The Flying Dutchmen salvaged the split with a 5-3 win in the second game.

In game one, Hope scored a run in the top half of the first inning. The Comets immediately answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning. Senior Beau Langs reached on a fielding error and then went to second when senior Jonny Zawacki walked. Senior Drew Thompson hit a single to plate Langs.

The top three batters in OIivet's helped produce what proved to be the game-winning run in the third. Langs led off with a single, stole second base, advanced to third on Zawacki's ground out and crossed the plate on Thompson's ground out.

The Comets added an insurance run in the fourth inning back-to-back doubles by seniors Peter Panos and Nikolai Jump. The Flying Dutchmen threatened to tie the game in the sixth when it had the tying runs on base but a strikeout ended the inning. Galloway sent the Hope batters down in order in the seventh.

Olivet finished the game with only six hits, with the only extra-base hits being the aforementioned doubles. Langs scored twice, while Thompson drove in a pair of runs. Galloway allowed seven hits in earning his first win of the season. He walked one and struck out three.

In game two, the Comets scored a pair of runs in the first inning. Langs hit a lead-off single and hustled to third base on a double by Zawacki. Thompson hit a single up the middle of the infield to score both runners. Hope responded with a run in the second to cut its deficit in half before taking a 3-2 lead with a pair of runs in the fourth.

Olivet had the tying run on third base in the fourth but failed to bring in the run. The Flying Dutchmen scored single runs in the fifth and seventh innings to go up 5-2. The Comets did not go down without a fight, as they scored once and brought the winning run to the plate in the bottom half of the seventh.

At the plate, Olivet collected eight hits. Langs and Zawacki each went 2-for-3, with Langs scoring two runs. Thompson had one hit to end his season on a 12-game hit streak, which ties for the seventh-longest in school history. Making his final start, senior Collin McCririe started on the mound and gave up three earned runs on five hits in five innings. Junior Ryan Roeske threw two-thirds of hitless relief. Zawacki tossed the final inning and one-third.

NOTES: Between games of the doubleheader, the Comets recognized their eight seniors – Jump, Tom Kort, Langs, Conner Magro, McCririe, Panos, Tompson and Zawacki – who were wearing an Olivet uniform for the final time. These eight seniors have combined to start 843 games, including 719 starts. Thompson played in 155 games, with 144 starts. Both those totals are second-most all-time at Olivet. He also finishes fifth all-time with 465 at-bats.