Defiance Takes First Game at Rose-Hulman

TERRE HAUTE, Ind.  --  Defiance scored five runs in the third inning to take an 8-3 lead over Rose-Hulman and held on to score the 8-6 victory on Friday night in a key road Heartland Conference contest.

The Yellow Jackets got on the board first with production from their freshmen middle infield combination, as Kirk Jesse scored on an RBI double from Tim Pitro to boost DC to the 1-0 lead after its first at bat.

Rose-Hulman answered by rallying for three runs in the bottom half of the first, with all three coming across after two outs had been recorded.

Back-to-back doubles off the bats of Phil Kosier and Ron Martin in the top of the second closed the gap to 3-2 in favor of the Engineers. DC then drew even as Martin raced home on a LeTroy Harris sacrifice fly.          

Defiance broke the game open in the third frame, capitalizing on two R-H errors to push across five unearned runs. Harris provided the crushing blow with a three-run triple and would later cap the rally by scoring on a wild pitch.

The pitching settled in on both sides from that point on as both sides remained scoreless until a Rose-Hulman tally in the sixth trimmed the Defiance advantage to 8-4.

It remained a four-run cushion for the Jackets until the bottom of the ninth when Rose pushed across a pair of runs before DC slammed the door shut on the comeback attempt.

Jesse and Kosier led the way offensively as each player went 2-5 at the plate with a run and a double and Harris was 1-3 with a run scored and four runs batted in.

Nick Picciano (1-2) started the game and went six complete innings for the win and Brandon Portales worked the final three frames for the save.

The Yellow Jackets (7-13, 2-5 HCAC) will be back in action on Saturday with two more games at Rose-Hulman starting at noon.