Baseball concludes Florida trip by splitting two games with Haverford

FORT MYERS, Fla. – On Friday, the Defiance College baseball squad concluded its annual trip to Florida by splitting a very competitive doubleheader with the Haverford College Fords in the 30^th Annual Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic. After having its six-game winning streak end with a 5-4 extra-inning loss, Defiance bounced back with a 6-5 victory at the Lee County Player Development Complex.

The Yellow Jackets are 7-3 overall after enjoying an extremely successful Spring Break week while Haverford is 6-5.

DC scored twice in the opening inning of the first contest before the Fords got a run in the bottom half. Each team tallied a run in the third inning, making it a 3-2 game, before HC took a 4-3 lead in the fifth. Defiance tied the game with a run in the sixth inning, sending the scheduled seven-inning affair into an extra inning. Haverford pushed across the winning run with two outs in the eighth inning.

The Yellow Jackets were outhit, 10-6, and each club made four errors. The Fords left 10 runners on base to DC's six.

For Defiance, Nate Kaffenbarger (De Graff, Ohio/Indian Lake) was on base four times, finishing a perfect 2 for 2 with a double, two walks and a pair of runs batted in to pace the offense.

Cohen Nies (Logansport, Ind./Lewis Cass) got the start on the mound for the Yellow Jackets, going 4 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts and two walks while giving up two earned runs. Jack Powell (Commerce Township, Mich./Walled Lake Northern) was the tough-luck losing pitcher who struck out three over the final three innings, yielding an unearned run.

In the second contest, DC posted a five-run second inning before the Fords pulled to within one by scoring once in the third and three times in the fifth. Defiance made the score 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning and HC again made it a one-run game with a run in the sixth, but Zac Brazen (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda) retired the last four batters in a row to preserve the victory.

Haverford racked up 11 hits and the Yellow Jackets seven with each team committing an error. The Fords stranded eight base runners and DC five.

Freshman Josh Vischer (Genoa, Ohio/Genoa) went 2 for 3 with a double, run scored and two RBIs for the winners while Kaffenbarger was 1 for 1 with a couple of bases on balls. Ben Bucklew (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) doubled, walked, scored a run and laid down a sacrifice bunt in a 1-for-2 showing while freshman Brant Richardson (Convoy, Ohio/Crestview) also had a hit and walk in two at-bats, scoring twice. Lane Good (Napoloeon, Ohio/Napoleon) provided an early spark with a two-run double and later came around to score.

In the pitching department, Defiance's Jon Brown (Haskins, Ohio/Otsego) tossed four innings for the win before Grant Curavo (Northwood, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch Catholic) went 1 2/3 innings with a strikeout. Brazen finished things off with a save.

With the continued public health threat of COVID-19, the Jackets and all other Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference members have suspended athletic activities for a minimum of two weeks.