Jackets Defeated by Manchester (Ind.)

NORTH MANCHESTER, IND.  --  In their second matchup in as many days, the Defiance College baseball team fell to Manchester (Ind.) University, 9-3, in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game in North Manchester, Ind.

The Yellow Jackets had 11 hits with junior Ryan Kohlhofer (Walbridge/Lake) leading the way going three-of-four with a run scored and RBI.  Junior Gary Levengood (Beverly Hills, Fla./Lecanto) finished two-of-four and senior Joel Musser (Center Line, Mich./Center Line) rounded out the mulit-hitters with a two-of-five effort and also scored a run.

Manchester (18-11, 12-8 HCAC) grabbed the early lead with a two-run homerun in the bottom of the first inning.  Defiance (14-15, 9-11 HCAC) answered scoring two runs of its own in the third on a sacrifice fly by senior Chris Donese (Kettering/Fairmont) and a RBI single by junior Royce Laurendeau (Clyde) to even the score at 2-2.  The Spartans quickly regained the lead in the fourth with two more runs to make the score 4-2.  

Defiance cut the deficit in half with a run in the top of the sixth thanks to a RBI triple by Kohlhofer, but Manchester plated two runs in the bottom half of the inning on another two-run homerun to extend the lead to 6-3.  DC's run in the sixth would be the final run for the Jackets in the game as the Spartans added a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth en route to the 9-3 final.

On the mound for DC, sophomore Nick Watkins (Lima/Central Catholic) started the game, but suffered the loss and is now 1-2 overall for the sesaon.  In five and two-thirds innings, Watkins gave up six runs on 12 hits and had one strikeout.  Sophomore Drew Miller (Walled Lake, Mich./Walled Lake Central) replaced Watkins in the sixth inning and went an inning-and-a-third allowing one run on two hits.  Junior Chris Douglas (Wixom, Mich./Walled Lake Western) finished the game and gave up two runs on three hits in one inning pitched.

Defiance is scheduled to host Earlham (Ind.) College this Saturday-Sunday, Apr. 25-26 at Craig A. Rutter Field.  The Yellow Jackets and Quakers will play a pair of nine-inning games on Saturday with the first game scheduled to begin at noon.