OLIVET THE MAGAZINE
Joe Kukuczka
IMAGE GROUP
AP FILE PHOTO
8
MAJOR LEAGUE BREAKOUTS
OLYMPIC MEDALIST
Two right-handers and ONU alumni named Ben are making waves in Major League Baseball. Ben Zobrist ’04 was named to the roster for the 84th MLB AllStar Game — his second — at Citi Field in New York City. Known as Zorilla to his teammates, he is one of the MLB’s most versatile players and is currently playing second base for the Tampa Bay Rays. Pitcher Ben Heller ’13 was recently drafted by the Cleveland Indians, one of only 37 NAIA players drafted. During his collegiate career, he struck out 260 batters. He begins his professional career with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a Class A team in Naples, Ohio.
Senior Samantha Elam captured two bronze medals for Team USA at the 22nd Summer Deaflympics in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the 400m freestyle, she clocked 4 minutes, 43.44 seconds, an improvement of more than three seconds from her prelim swim. She then landed on the podium again with a time of 9:38.25 in the 800m freestyle, less than one second behind silver. Elam, who has been hearing impaired since birth, has been among the top swimmers on Olivet’s inaugural swim team, giving two All-American performances at the 2013 NAIA Nationals.