Baseball drops pair of HCAC games at Hanover on Opening Day

HANOVER, Ind. – On Opening Day, the Defiance College baseball team dropped a pair of Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference road games to the Hanover College Panthers at K.T. Young Ballpark on Saturday afternoon. Defiance lost the first game, 16-5 in seven innings, before falling by a 14-7 score.

In the opening contest, the Yellow Jackets led, 2-0, in the top of the third before Hanover scored eight unanswered runs, including six in the bottom of the third to take an 8-2 advantage after four innings. In the fifth, DC got a run back but the Panthers added to their lead by scoring three times, making it 11-3. Defiance trimmed its deficit to 11-5 in the sixth before HC finished off the game with five runs in the bottom half of the inning.

The Yellow Jackets were edged in hits, 13-9, and made two of the contest's three errors. Six of the hosts' hits went for extra bases.

Cleanup hitter Michael Reese led the DC offense by going 3 for 4 with a double and run scored while Lucas Thomeier went 2 for 4, scoring once. Lane Good delivered a two-run single and walked in a 1-for-2 effort with freshman Zach Martin ending 1 for 1 with two runs scored.

Defiance used four pitchers who combined to throw 183 pitches. Starter Cohen Nies struck out two over 2.1 innings but was tagged with the loss. Sophomore Kole Small finished up, making his debut with the Yellow Jackets by retiring the only batter he faced in the bottom of the sixth.

With the score tied at 1-1 in game two, Hanover scored twice in the third inning before DC made it a 3-2 contest in the fifth. The Panthers responded with four-run fifth and led, 10-3, after seven innings. Defiance fought back with four runs in the top of the eighth, pulling to within 10-7, but were matched by HC in the bottom half, concluding the scoring.

The Yellow Jackets were outhit, 16-9, and had five extra-base hits to Hanover's six. DC, which drew seven bases on balls, left 11 runners on base and the Panthers six.

Martin continued to impress at the plate for Defiance after going a perfect 3 for 3 with a double, walk, two more runs scored and a couple of stolen bases. Reese stayed hot with a 2-for-4 performance that included a two-base hit, driving in a run and scoring another while Thomeier and freshman Joshua Stevenson each doubled. Stevenson also tallied two runs batted in, a pair of runs scored and reached on a walk in his first collegiate action.

On the mound, Will Bohlman got the start for the Yellow Jackets and went six innings in a loss. He recorded three strikeouts with no walks.

DC will be back on the road for an HCAC doubleheader with Franklin College on Sunday. Game one is slated for noon in Franklin, Indiana.