Baseball splits pair of one-run contests with HCAC opponent Anderson

DEFIANCE, Ohio – At home for just the second time this season, the Defiance College baseball squad split two one-run games with the Anderson University Ravens, a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponent, on Saturday at Craig A. Rutter Field. Defiance claimed the opener, 5-4, before its comeback bid fell short, 6-5, in the second contest of the doubleheader.

Anderson got a run in the top of the first before the Yellow Jackets took a 2-1 lead after two innings. A three-run fourth put the Ravens back on top, 4-2, but DC pecked away with single runs in each of the fifth, sixth and eight innings, pushing across the game-winner on a squeeze bunt by Dylan King.

Defiance outhit AU, 8-6, and each team committed two errors. There were 10 stolen bases in the contest, including eight by the guests.

Nate Kaffenbarger paced the Yellow Jackets by going 2 for 3 with a walk and run batted in while King added a double, walk and run scored to go along with his game-winning RBI. Nolan Kestner stroked a two-run single while Colin Minner had a hit, walk and scored twice.

For DC, Cohen Nies started and pitched 7.1 innings, allowing six hits with seven strikeouts and three bases on balls. The Defiance bullpen then took over as Zac Brazen retired both batters he faced, one on a strikeout, for the win while Jack Powell struck out two of the three he saw in the ninth for a save.

Each squad tallied a run in the first inning of game two before Anderson put together a three-run fifth. Defiance trimmed its deficit to 4-3 after seven innings, but the Ravens came right back with two runs in the eighth. In the ninth inning, the Yellow Jackets scored twice and had the game-winning run on second base when the contest ended.

DC edged the visitors in hits, 7-6, and made two of the game's three errors. Defiance left six runners on base to AU's three.

Kaffenbarger again powered the Yellow Jackets' offense with a 3-for-4 performance that included two solo home runs. Lucas Thomeier chipped in with a double and an RBI.

Daniel Tomalak started for DC on the mound and took the loss after going seven innings, yielding just four hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Brazen threw one inning with a strikeout before freshman John Hammerstein struck out one in working a perfect ninth.

Defiance is 4-8 overall and in the HCAC while Anderson is 8-5. The Jackets are slated to travel to Terre Haute, Indiana, on Sunday for a conference twinbill versus Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Game one is slated for 3 p.m.