Jackets Let One Slip Away at Manchester

N. MANCHESTER, Ind.  --  Holding a one run lead and two outs away from a season sweep over the Manchester Spartans, DC coughed up a pair of unearned runs in the final inning and took the 4-3 loss.

Defiance took an early 2-0 advantage in the second when Lenny Koesters and Phil Kosier scored on RBI singles from R.J. Chidester and Brad Timofeev, but Manchesters Matty Miller provided the answer in the bottom half of the frame with a solo shot to start the inning.

That was the only MC run that Dustin Zizelman would yield in six innings of work as the Jackets held the 2-1 lead until the bottom of the seventh inning.

Manchester put its first three hitters on base in that inning off of reliever Brandon Portales, before knotting the score at 2-2 on a sacrifice fly. Portales then induced a pair of harmless fly outs to escape without further damage.                                                             

Defiance hit back in the ninth with a two-out rally sparked by a double off the bat of Chidester. Ben Gates was summoned to pinch run and the speedy freshman immediately came around to score the go-ahead run on a Timofeev single.

The bottom of the ninth then started with a groundout for the Spartans before consecutive singles put runners on the corners with one down. The second wild pitch of the inning brought home the tying run and moved the winning run to second. The Spartans then put the runner in motion, stealing third and advancing home to win the game on a DC throwing error on the play.

LeTroy Harris (2-4), Chidester (2-3, RBI) and Timofeev (2-4, 2 RBI) each collected a pair of hits to pace DCs 10-hit attack.

The Jackets (10-22, 5-12 HCAC) will host Wittenberg on Thursday at 4:00 pm before playing host to Bluffton on Sunday at 1:00 pm.