College Notes: Purdy caps week

TRAVERSE CITY -- It was a busy -- but productive -- week for Olivet College junior first baseman Scott Purdy.

The TC West product was 12 for 21 (.571) at the plate as Olivet went 4-3 last week, capped by a three-game, one-day sweep of Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association foe Alma College on Sunday.

Against Alma, Purdy was 3 for 4 with a run scored in game one, 1 for 3 in game two and 1 for 3 with two RBIs in the nightcap for the Comets (15-16, 13-7 MIAA).

In a split against Calvin on Saturday, Purdy was 3 for 3 in each game. Purdy scored a run in the nightcap and had two RBIs and led off the seventh inning of the opener with his third homer of the season.

Purdy, who has started every game and boasts a .981 fielding percentage, is second on the team with a .348 batting average, a .482 slugging percentage and 23 RBIs.

-- Two former TC Central teammates had good days at the Big Ten Golf Championships at the Forest Akers West course in East Lansing.

Michigan junior Bill Rankin posted the school's best individual finish since 1999, taking third overall. Rankin finished the tournament with a 3-under 285 with rounds of 69, 75, 71 and 70 .

Host Michigan State won its second straight team title at plus-21, beating Minnesota by four shots, to earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Central Region championships May 15-17. Junior Randy Hutchison finished in a tie for 41st overall with a 309.

-- Wesleyan College senior pitcher Kit Tholen (TC Central) evened his record at 3-3 after beating Williams College 4-1 on Sunday.

Tholen allowed just one run on three hits over the first 71/3 innings. Tholen struck out four.

The strong outing by Tholen means he's surrendered just one run in 131/3 innings in his last two starts for Wesleyan (15-18, 5-6 New England Small College Athletic Conference).

-- A host of former area athletes gathered in Hillsdale for the annual Gina Relays track meet.

Alma College senior Lindsay Lange (Manistee) posted the highest finish, taking third in the heptathlon (4,596 points) and adding a seventh in the 400 relay (49.06).

Also on the women's side, Michigan sophomore Alisha Cole (Cadillac) was fourth in the 200 (25.22) and Grand Valley State sophomore Maegan Doyen (Manistee) fourth in the high jump (5'7"). Notre Dame freshman Marissa Treece (Glen Lake) added an eighth in the 1,500 (4:33.88) while Michigan sophomore Sarah Conkle (Bellaire) was 10th in the pole vault (11'73/4").

-- On the men's side, Saginaw Valley State sophomore Jesse Evans (Cheboygan) was sixth in the 3,000 steeplechase (9:44.56). Sophomore Wade Peacock (Benzie Central) and junior Ben McMurray (Petoskey) helped Alma finish ninth in the 3,200 relay (8:11.79).

-- The Lake Superior State softball team ended its season with an 8-4 win over Findlay in the second game of a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.

Freshman Jennie Elliott (Frankfort) was 2 for 4 and scored two runs while freshman Chevie Peralta-Everts (Cheboygan) added a pinch-hit double for the Lakers (9-31, 3-17 GLIAC). Elliott, who hit .304 with a team-high five homers, had a hit and scored twice in a 6-2 loss to Findlay in game one.

-- Senior catcher Joe Lazar (TC Central) had a two-run single in the third inning and scored a run as Valparaiso beat Butler 7-5 and complete a Saturday sweep of Horizon League foe Butler.

Lazar had a RBI double for the Crusaders (13-25, 5-8 Horizon) in a 13-0 non-conference rout of Judson on Wednesday.

-- Host BYU claimed the second through sixth places in Friday's mile at the Robison Invitational. Junior Stephan Shay (Central Lake) took fifth for the Cougars in 4:10.49.

-- Bowling Green finished eighth at the Mid-American Conference women's golf championships.

Senior Lindsay Jonkhoff (TC Central) tied for 31st with a 72-hole total of 333. Jonkhoff had rounds of 80, 84, 88 and 81 in the final tournament of her collegiate career.

-- Alma College finished fifth in the MIAA men's tennis tournament by beating Tri-State 6-3 on Saturday.

Sophomore Tom Hardin (TC Central) won 7-5, 6-1 at No. 3 singles while freshman Kace Lovejoy (TC West) rolled 6-0, 6-3 at No. 5 singles. The duo combined for an 8-6 loss at No. 2 doubles.

Hardin/Lovejoy posted an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles against Tri-State on Wednesday. Lovejoy also won 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 singles while Hardin prevailed 6-3, 7-5 at No. 4.

-- Central Michigan freshman Jenny Vetter (Elk Rapids) scored as a pinch runner as the Chippewas edged Ball State 3-1 on Sunday in a Mid-American Conference softball game. CMU is 25-14 overall and 14-3 in the MAC.

-- Michigan State lost 4-2 to Wisconsin in the first round of the Big Ten women's tennis tournament. Sophomore Christine Milliken (TC Central) dropped a tough 8-6 decision at No. 3 doubles for the Spartans (12-13).

-- The University of Detroit's middle distance relay team took 13th (10:12.1) at the 99th annual Drake Relays. Freshman Patrick Liederbach (Petoskey) ran the first leg for the Titans and turned in a time of 3:03.2 for 1,200 meters.

-- Central Michigan freshman Robbie Harman (TC Central) drove in his first collegiate run in the Chippewas' 13-2 baseball victory over Valparaiso on Tuesday.

Harman had a two-run double as part of a 10-run eighth inning for CMU. Harman also scored twice in the inning.

Former teammate, Valparaiso red-shirt freshman Bill Lazar (TC Central), also saw action as a pinch hitter in the game.

-- Rhodes senior Nick Lewis (Gaylord) was fourth in the 10,000 (34:34.82) at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship meet.

-- Playing in his first varsity golf tournament, Saginaw Valley State freshman Nate Kelly (Suttons Bay) led the Cardinals to an eighth-place finish at the Great Lakes regional in Indiana, which concluded on April 21.

Kelly tied for eighth overall with a 4-over 148 after shooting two 74s. Junior Kasey Hocquard (Cheboygan) carded rounds of 76 and 74 and tied for 24th with a 150.

-- Spring Arbor junior Takis Pifer (Buckley) was third in the 800 (1:57.7) and on the 1600 relay team that finished seventh (3:37.38) at the Mid-Central Conference meet.

-- It was a rough week for the Evansville (9-34, 3-15 Missouri Valley Conference) baseball team, which went 0-5 last week.

Sophomore Andy Pascoe (TC Central) had a hit in Sunday's and Saturday's league losses to Creighton. Pascoe had two RBIs and scored twice in Tuesday's 13-12 defeat against Tennessee-Martin.

-- Two area players were key to two wins by the Grand Rapids Community College baseball team last week.

Freshman Dan Taylor (Kingsley) was 2 for 3 in a 16-9 victory over St. Clair Community College on Thursday.

Freshman Chris Waha (Charlevoix) was the winning pitcher in a 10-2 triumph over Mott on Tuesday. Waha allowed just two hits and one earned run while striking out three in seven innings.

-- Wartburg sophomore Justin Peterson (TC West) is tied for 30th after the first two days of the Iowa Conference golf championships.

Shortened to 27 holes by the weather, Peterson had rounds of 39 and 88 for a 127.

-- Grand Valley State freshman Kyle Eno (Cheboygan) won the shot put (39'1/4") at Wednesday's Grand Rapids Twilight Meet.

Aquinas senior Kyle Kramer (Charlevoix) was second in the hammer (177'3") and fourth in the javelin (135"), where Calvin freshman Shane Pluger (McBain Northern Christian) was third (137'8").

Grand Valley freshman Kevin Mulder (Lake City) tied for second in the high jump (6'6"). Doyen was second in the high jump (5'6") on the women's side.

-- Alma College lost 8-1 to Calvin in its final women's tennis regular season match on Tuesday. Junior Emily Noss (TC Central) had the lone victory for the Scots with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 win at No. 6 singles.

-- Two former area pitchers took to the hill as Mott Community College lost a doubleheader to Kellogg Community College last week.

Freshman Matt Stewart (TC West) suffered his first conference lost, striking out seven in 5-plus innings in an 8-6 loss.

Sophomore Bryan Beaman (Kinglsey) pitched two innings of relief in the nightcap.

-- Northern Michigan sophomore Karin Diebold (Ellsworth) tied for ninth in the pole vault (10') at Saturday's Wisconsin-Oshkosh Invitational.

Photos

Olivet College junior Scott Purdy (TC West) was the MIAA Player of the Week. Special to the Record-Eagle