Baseball team defeats Albion, 7-1

Behind solid pitching by sophomores Brad Dragicevich (Kalamazoo/Central) and Brian Schaeffer (Mason), the Olivet College baseball team defeated Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) rival Albion College, 7-1, this afternoon at Frank Joranko Field in Albion. The teams will finish the three-game series tomorrow afternoon with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.

Dragicevich earned the win after pitching the first seven innings. In relief, Schaeffer pitched the eighth and ninth innings. They combined to hold Albion to six hits.

The Britons (15-19, 9-7 MIAA) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. The Fighting Comets (19-13, 7-9 MIAA) tied the score at 1-1 with a run in the fourth inning. Sophomore Derek Ott (Kawkawlin/Bay City Western) reached first base on a fielder's choice, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a single to right centerfield by sophomore Nick McIntosh (Petoskey).

Olivet grabbed a 5-1 lead with four unearned runs in the sixth inning as four different players each drove in a run. The Comets added two more runs in the seventh on a two-run single by junior James Melvin (Redford Thurston).

At the plate, Melvin was four-for-five with two RBIs. McIntosh collected two hits and two RBIs. Ott, Drew Benoit (Climax-Scotts) and Chris Shelhart (Rolling Meadows, Ill./St. Viator) each had a base hit.

Following tomorrow's games, Olivet will wrap-up the 2005 regular season when it hosts Hope College for a MIAA series next Friday and Saturday, May 6-7. A nine-inning game will be played Friday at 4 p.m., followed by two seven-inning games Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.