Baseball drops HCAC contests to Earlham

DEFIANCE, Ohio – On Good Friday, the Defiance College baseball team hosted a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with the Earlham College Quakers, and was defeated by the scores of 8-2 and 14-8 at Craig A. Rutter Field.

In the opener, Earlham was up, 2-1, after one inning before scoring one run in the third inning and two runs in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead. Defiance trimmed its deficit to 5-2 in the seventh before the Quakers pulled away with a three-run ninth.

DC was outhit, 9-4, and committed four of the game's five errors, which led to five unearned runs.

Offensively for Defiance, Colin Minner stroked a pair of doubles and scored a run while freshman Mitchell Roever finished 1 for 2 with a walk and run batted in. Lucas Thomeier added a single and run scored.

Cohen Nies started and pitched six innings for the Yellow Jackets, giving up three earned runs with five strikeouts and one walk in absorbing the loss. Kendall Duval followed and struck out two with one walk over two hitless, shutout innings.

After each team scored a run in the first inning of game two, EC took a 13-1 advantage in the sixth. DC clawed back with a six-run seventh, making it 13-7, before the scoring concluded with each squad pushing across a run in the ninth.

Earlham edged the hosts in hits, 14-12, but struck out nine times to Defiance's six. Six errors were made in the contest, including four by the Yellow Jackets.

Lane Good paced DC at the plate by going a perfect 5 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs scored while Nate Kaffenbarger, who finished a single short of a cycle on Wednesday, was 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Michael Reese hit a three-run home run and walked while Dominic Kuzujanakis went 1-for-1 with a run scored as a pinch hitter.

On the mound for Defiance, Daniel Tomalak tossed five innings with three strikeouts and was tagged with the loss.

The Jackets are 4-13 overall and in the HCAC while the Quakers improve to 11-6. DC is scheduled to play a conference twinbill at rival Bluffton University on Saturday at 1 p.m.