AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- For the second-straight game, the Grove City College baseball team fell in extra innings, dropping a 12-11 decision in 10 innings to Albion College on Monday afternoon at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex as part of the RussMatt Central Florida Baseball Invitational.

Sophomore left fielder Tyler Graham (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) ledd the Wolverines (1-4) with a game-high four hits while freshman first baseman Matt Dayton (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) added three hits. Freshman center fielder Austin Wacker (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley), sophomore right fielder Shane Hammel (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge), sophomore third baseman Micah Burke (Gilbert, Ariz./EVAC) and senior second baseman Nolan Myers (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) each added two hits with Burke and Hammel each driving in two runs.

Albion (2-2) struck first, taking advantage of Wolverine errors in both the first and second innings to score a run in each frame and jump out to a 2-0 lead. The Wolverines finally broke through in the bottom of the third, as Hammel and Dayton led off the inning with singles and Graham followed with an RBI-single to score Hammel and make it a 2-1 game. Later in the inning, after a pair of flyouts to the outfield, senior catcher Andy Fritz (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) singled through the left side to bring Dayton home and tie the score at 2-2.

That score would remain until the bottom of the fifth, when the Wolverines combined five hits with three Briton errors to plate seven runs and take a 9-2 lead. After Dayton and Graham singled to lead off the inning, senior shortstop David Laylock (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pine Richland) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position for Burke, who singled up the middle to score both men and give Grove City a 4-2 lead. Fritz would reach on an error that allowed Burke to advance to third, and Myers reached on a bunt single that scored Burke to extend the lead to 5-2. Another error allowed Wacker to reach and reload the bases, and a Hammel single to center scored two more to push the advantage to 7-2. Later in the frame, a third Albion error allowed two more runs to score.

Albion used a four-run seventh to cut Grove City's lead to 9-6 and a Justin Dennis solo home run in the top of the eighth cut the gap to 9-7. Grove City would answer with a run in the bottom of the eighth as Myers reached on an error and Wacker doubled to send him home and push Grove City's lead back to three at 10-7 through eight.

The Britons led the top of the ninth with another solo home run to cut the spread to two, and, after a strikeout, a walk and a single, another Wolverine fielding error would prove to be costly, loading the bases with one out. A bases-loaded walk closed the gap to 10-9, and a sacrifice fly then tied the game at 10-10 with two outs. A wild pitch gave Albion its first lead since the early innings at 11-10 before Grove City finally got out of the inning.

Needing to rally to win or force extra innings, Grove City did just that, as Graham smacked a one-out triple to right field and came home on a Laylock sacrifice fly one batter later to tie the game at 11-11 and send the game into the 10th.

In the top of the 10th, Albion's Logan Priebe hit a one-out single and Justin Green followed with an RBI-double to put the Britons back on top 12-11. This time, Grove City didn't have an answer, going down in order to take the tough loss.

Senior Cedric Hils (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) took the hard-luck loss on the mound for the Wolverines in relief, allowing just two hits and one run over one and one-third innings of action. Sophomore John Bini (Staten Island, N.Y./Xaverian) started for the Wolverines and scattered eight hits and five runs (three earned) over six-plus innings of work while striking out seven and walking four. Freshmen Corey Thomas (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle) and Henry Womble (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) and senior Jimmy Palmer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) all saw action in relief.

Grove City will look to rebound today at 3:15 p.m. when they face off against Montclair State.