ALBION, Mich. – Albion College discovered its passion and purpose in the middle of game two and that spurred the Britons to a 6-5 victory over 15th-ranked Adrian College and a split of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association doubleheader at Frank Joranko Field.

Albion lost game one, 10-1, and trailed 2-0 when it came to bat in the third inning of game two. The Britons rapped five consecutive singles in the third to take a 3-2 hit. Lansing Catholic Central products Chad Gromek and Chuck DeClarke drove in runs in the frame.

The Britons scored in the fourth to extend the margin to 4-2, but Adrian got good swings against starting pitcher Kyle Cassidy (Naperville, Ill.) in the sixth. Kyle Strawn slammed a home run over the leftfield fence and Sam Fischer and Andrew DeLuca drove in runs as the Bulldogs pulled ahead 6-5.

Albion's first two batters in the bottom of the sixth – Adam Mazza (Macomb/Dakota) and Dan Mills (Northville) – walked and they scored on DeClarke's two-out single.

Cassidy stuck out the side in the seventh to collect his third complete game in league play. He yielded 10 hits and a walk. He racked up eight strikeouts.

"Kyle pitched OK in the sixth," Albion Coach Scott Carden said. "He threw a lot of off-speed pitches in the sixth and he still had some in the tank (for the seventh).

"We could have folded," Carden added. "We were down 2-0 but we kept our heads in the game. Our goal is to play the same whether we're up by 10 runs or down by 10. We have to play our game (regardless of the score)."

Gromek produced four hits to finish the day as Albion's hitting leader. Ben Gould (Alpena) slugged a homerun in game one and a double in game two.

The teams will complete the four-game weekend series at 1 p.m. Saturday with a doubleheader at Adrian's Nicolay Field.