Baseball team beats St. John Fisher, 10-9, in 10 innings

Senior Brandon Goodman (Portage/Portage Central) drove in junior Erik McCloud (Holly) with the winning run, as the Olivet College baseball team defeated St. John Fisher College, 10-9, in 10 innings this afternoon at the RussMatt Invitational in Winter Haven, Fla.

After St. John Fisher scored a run in the top half of the first inning, Olivet tied the game with a run in the home half of the first. McCloud singled through the rightside of the infield, stole second and scored on a double down the left field by Goodman.

The Cardinals regained the lead at 2-1 with a run in the second inning. Like the first, the Comets came right back with a run to tie the game at 2-2. Junior Brad Sullens (Belleville) doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball.

Olivet took its first lead of the game with a two-run third inning. Senior Ryan Hodges (Swartz Creek) led off the frame with a single, and McCloud and Goodman drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. A single to right field by senior Scott Purdy (Traverse City/West) moved everyone up one base, including Hodges who scored. Sophomore Beau Felix (Hartland) hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score McCloud.

St. John Fisher made the score 4-4 tie with two runs in its half of the fourth. The Comets pushed across four runs in their half of the fourth. With the bases loaded, a wild pitch scored the first run. A walk re-loaded the bases, and Purdy cleared them with a three-run double.

Following the Cardinals getting two runs back in the top half of the fifth, Olivet got one of those runs back when sophomore Jimmy Keenan (Charlotte) scored on a wild pitch. St. John Fisher forced extra innings with single tallies in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames.

With two outs in the 10th inning, McCloud walked and stole second. Goodman singled to right field to score McCloud with the game-winning run.

Offensively, each team had 12 hits. Purdy and Sullens had three hits each for the Comets. McCloud scored four runs, while Purdy collected four RBI. On the mound, McCloud started and went four and one-third innings. Junior Tyler Kelly (Marshall) threw one and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief. Junior Josh Norlock (Warren/Centerline) pitched three innings in relief and allowed one run on two hits to earn the victory.

Olivet is off tomorrow and will play Gordon (Mass.) College on Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m.