Baseball comes up short in extra-inning loss to HCAC leader Franklin
DEFIANCE, Ohio – On the turf at Defiance High School, the Defiance College baseball squad came up just short in a 7-6, 10-inning loss to the visiting Franklin College Grizzlies in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game on Sunday.
DEFIANCE, Ohio – On the turf at Defiance High School, the Defiance College baseball squad came up just short in a 7-6, 10-inning loss to the visiting Franklin College Grizzlies in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game on Sunday.
The contest started late after a 53-minute rain delay. Then, it took four hours and 36 minutes to play the game, which included weather delays in the top of the ninth inning (13 minutes) and top of the 10th (12 minutes). Game two of the scheduled doubleheader was postponed.
Each team scored a run in the third inning before Defiance snapped the tie by scoring once in the fifth. In the seventh inning, Franklin took a 3-2 lead before the Yellow Jackets tied it back up. The Grizzlies got two runs in the eighth, but DC followed with three runs of its own to take a 6-5 edge. FC, which is leading the HCAC standings, tallied single runs in the ninth and 10th innings to leave with the win.
Franklin, which made three of the game's four errors, outhit Defiance by an 11-7 margin. There were a combined 23 walks and 22 strikeouts as the Grizzles stranded 14 base runners and the Yellow Jackets 11.
For DC, Lucas Thomeier collected two hits, including a triple, walk, run batted in and run scored to pace the offense.
On the mound for Defiance, Cohen Nies started and worked six strong innings, yielding just one hit and one run with six strikeouts. Five other pitchers came out of the bullpen with freshman John Hammerstein taking the loss.
The Yellow Jackets are 5-18 overall and in the conference while FC moves to 13-5. DC is scheduled to play an HCAC contest at rival Bluffton University on Wednesday at 4 p.m.