Defiance tops Calvin 12-7, falls to Centre 9-1 in double header

DANVILLE, Ky. - The Defiance College Yellow Jackets split a double header against Calvin College and Centre College Saturday afternoon at Gary Wright Field on the campus of Centre College.

The Yellow Jackets opened up the day with a 12-7 win over Calvin College to improve to 2-0 on the young season and complete a two-game sweep of the Knights over Friday and Saturday.

The first game started off rough for the Yellow Jackets, quickly falling behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning. However, Defiance responded well with its first trip to the plate and never trailed again.

Aaron Helland started off the inning with a walk and Chris Donese followed it up with a single. Then Darin Waterman loaded the bases with no outs after drawing another walk. With the bases loaded, Pat Masopust put Defiance on the scoreboard with a 2-RBI single that scored Helland and Donese and put Waterman on third.

After Masopust took second on a wild pitch, Quinten Harrington scored Waterman from third and put runners on the corner with an RBI single.

Defiance took the lead in the next at bat when Masopust scored from third on a double play ground out by Gary Levengood.

Following the first inning, Dave Blanch settled in on the mound for the Yellow Jackets over the next few innings.

In the second, third and fourth innings, Blanch struck out two batters and allowed just one ball to leave the infield on the only hit for Calvin during the stretch.

Defiance added a run in the second inning. Following his 2-for-3 multiple RBI day in the opener, Ryan Kohlhofer started his day at the plate with a walk and then stole second base. Donese brought Kohlhofer home with an RBI single.

The Yellow Jackets piled on some more insurance in the fourth inning by way of six runs as Defiance batted around in the inning.

Following a single by Zach Reed and another walk by Kohlhofer, Helland started the scoring with an RBI single to score Reed. Then Donese reached base on an error and Kohlhofer scored. The error mattered very little on Kohlhofer's run as Waterman hit a double in the next at bat, scoring Donese and Helland.

After a ground out, Harrington hit an RBI double to score Waterman and Harrington came home in the next at bat on an RBI ground out by Levengood.

Calvin scored three runs in the top of the fifth to start a comeback attempt, but the Knights were only able to score one more run in the game.

Defiance added its 12th run of the game in the eighth inning when Waterman scored from second on an RBI single by Masopust.

Aaron Paprocki was credited with the win in a relief effort. Paprocki pitched the middle four innings for the Yellow Jackets, giving up just one unearned run on one hit and two walks.

Blanch pitched the first four innings for DC, giving up six runs on seven hits and three walks. He also had three strikeouts in the game. Chris Douglas pitched the final inning for the Yellow Jackets.

Following the win against Calvin, the Purple and Gold were right back on the field against host Centre College in the second of two games on the day. In contrast to game one, the Yellow Jackets struggled offensively and fell 9-1 to Centre, suffering their first setback of the young season.

Defiance struggled to get hits in the second game, recording just four in 29 at bats.

Zack Reed brought the lone Yellow Jackets run home with a ground out to shortstop that allowed Matt Steals to score from third. Steals reached third base with a leadoff triple to start off the eighth inning for the Yellow Jackets.

Aaron Grasing picked up the loss for Defiance, giving up two runs on three hits in five innings of work. Centre scored one run in the third and another in the fifth against Grasing.

Centre's big offensive output came in the sixth inning, scoring four runs that were fueled by pitching errors and fielding errors for the Jackets. Centre added three more runs in the seventh and eighth innings to bring the final score to 9-1.

Waterman finished with the biggest day at the plate for the Yellow Jackets, combining to go 3-for-5 with two walks. Waterman finished with two RBIs and three runs scored.

Masopust also had a big day at the plate, going 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored.

The Yellow Jackets will look to bounce back from the loss and stay above .500 on the opening weekend of the season with a 1 p.m. game against Centre on Sunday.