AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Albion College mounted a rally from a 6-0 deficit, but it could not come all the way back in a 7-5 loss to Ohio Northern University in spring break baseball action on Tuesday.
Bret Chesla made his collegiate debut on the mound for the Britons. He limited the Polar Bears to a run on two hits and a walk through two innings. Chesla's outing was cut short when rain came after the Britons were retired in the top of the third and the game which started at 9 a.m. was suspended until 5 p.m.
Will Davis greeted Albion reliever Tristan Ellis by hitting a triple when the game resumed in the bottom of the third. Ellis retired the next two batters, but the next two reached and Albion summoned James Spilko to pitch. Tyler Randick and Luke Klinehoffer delivered RBI singles as Ohio Northern scored three times in the inning to take a 4-0 lead.
Albion was held without a hit until the seventh inning, though it had a scoring chance in the third when Kellan Huang drew a leadoff walk and the next batter, Joe Turnbull, was hit by a pitch. The rally fizzled, however, as Albion was unable to hit the ball out of the infield.
Andrew Arszulowicz delivered Albion's first hit, a single off reliever Scott Beaton to lead off the seventh inning. After a fly out by Jordyn Finney, Dylan Perry delivered his second career homerun.
Arszulowicz delivered a RBI single in the eighth and Luke Bottomley and Matt Bur were credited with RBI in the ninth.
Albion finished the game with four hits. Arszulowicz and Perry both went 2-for-4.
"We battled down the stretch but it wasn't our best baseball today," Head Coach Scott Carden said. "The great thing was we gave ourselves the opportunity to win it at the end."
The Britons reserve team will be a pair of games Wednesday. The varsity team returns to action with a 1:30 p.m. Thursday game against Illinois College.
Twitter: @BritonsBaseball