A near no-hitter and strong relief pitching equals sweep at Hope, 3-0 and 4-0

HOLLAND, Mich. – For the third time this season, the Olivet College baseball team has swept a road Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) doubleheader. Today, the Comets did it in impressive fashion, shutting out Hope College, 3-0 and 4-0, at Boeve Stadium in Holland. In game one, junior pitcher Jay Magro (Bridgman) carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before it was broken up with a one-out single. In the second game, freshman David Hernandez (Lansing/Eastern) threw five and one-third innings of relief to earn his first win.

In the opener, Olivet jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Sophomore Jonny Zawacki (Alpena) led off the inning with a single and went to third on a single by junior Randy Young (Wixom/Walled Lake Western). Junior Andrew Brawley (Niles) hit a double to score Zawacki and move Young to third. Senior Austin Clark (Ossineke/Alpena) had a sacrifice fly to plate Young.

The Comets extended their lead to 3-0 when they scored a run in the sixth inning. Clark and freshman Joey Myers (Holt) had back-to-back singles. After a fielder's choice out at second put runners on the corners, freshman Conner Magro delivered with an RBI-single to score Clark.

Olivet recorded nine hits in the game, including two each for Zawacki and sophomore Joel Peters (Auburn Hills/Avondale). Five others had one hit apiece. On the mound, Jay Magro won his third straight MIAA game with a complete game, two-hitter. Against league opponents this season, he has allowed only one earned run in 21 innings for a 0.43 ERA.

In the second game, the Comets took advantage of three Hope errors to race out to a 2-0 lead with two runs in the top of first. Olivet added another single runs in both the second and fourth innings to take a 4-0 lead.

The Comets finished the game with nine hits. Freshman Tom Kort (New Hudson/South Lyon) and senior Tyler Olinske (Negaunee) each went 2-for-3 at the dish. Young also had a hit to extend his hitting streak to seven games, and he also has at least one hit in 17-of-19 games played this season. Kort scored two runs.

Senior Sean Alexander (Fenton) started on the mound. He got the first two outs before being pulled from the game after getting hit by a line drive. Hernandez came in relief and allowed just four hits, with only base runner getting past second base. Brawley allowed a single in the seventh inning, but the defense turned a double play to end the game.

With the sweep, Olivet improves its overall record to 10-9 and moves into second-place in the MIAA standings with a 7-3 record.

The final two games of the MIAA series will be played tomorrow at the Cutler Athletic Complex in Olivet, starting at 1 p.m.