FORT PIERCE, Fla. – The Geneva College baseball opened its season in Florida against Wheaton College on Monday morning, and the Golden Tornadoes gave up five late runs in the 6-1 loss.  Geneva's defense proved costly, with four errors leading to five of the Wheaton runs.  Wheaton improved to 5-0 on the season, while Geneva fell to 0-1.

Geneva pushed across the game's first run in the bottom of the first inning, as senior Mark Overmier (Crofton, Md./Mount St. Joseph) scored on a wild pitch.  The Golden Tornadoes had a chance to increase their lead in the third inning after loading the bases with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat.

Wheaton tied the score with a run in the fourth inning, aided by a Geneva error and two straight hit batters by starting pitcher Jason Bagliore (Brooklyn, NY/Millenium).  Freshman Marshall Wheeler (Butler, Pa./Butler) entered in relief, though, to keep the damage to just one run.

Wheaton broke things open in the seventh inning with three runs, all of them ending up unearned after another Geneva error.  Wheaton added single runs in the eighth and ninth innings, winning 6-1.

"The first game is always a tough one," said Head Coach Alan Sumner.  "We played a pretty good Wheaton team with very strong pitching.  We had a few defensive mistakes on our part that were the difference in the game, but it was good to finally get out there and get some game action under our belts."

Overmier went 1-for-2 while scoring Geneva's lone run.  Bagliore went 3.1 innings while giving up just one hit.  Wheeler picked up the loss after giving up three runs, all unearned, in 3.1 innings.

Geneva will play two games tomorrow in Florida against Norwich University, starting at 11:00 a.m.


Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.