Defiance Bats Come Alive in Sweep of Olivet

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.  --  Defiance pounded out 32 hits and put 24 runs on the board as it picked up its first two victories of the season with a doubleheader sweep against Olivet on Wednesday. DC won the first game by a 15-9 margin and used a four-run fifth in game two to secure the 9-6 victory.

DC faced a rare deficit on Wednesday after Olivet plated a run in the bottom of the first, but the Jackets fired back with a pair in the second and five more runs in the third to build a 7-1 advantage.

Olivet rallied for five runs of its own in the next two frames to trim the DC lead to a single run, before a seven-run explosion in the top half of the fifth inning put the Jackets firmly in control with a commanding 14-6 advantage. The big blow in the fifth came via a three-run homer off the bat of David Jackson.                    

The Jackets would maintain the lead and go on to finish off the 15-9 victory for their first win in four tries to start the 2008 campaign.

Offense was the story in the opener, as Defiance hit for the reversed cycle in four-straight at bats in the five-run third and Aaron Stewart and Jackson each homered. The rare feat in the third was started by Stewarts home run and followed directly by a Trey Harris triple, a Tim Pitro double and a Braden Brugler single.

The hot bats carried over into the second game, as Olivet scored in each of the first four innings before managing only one run over the final three. DC kept pace with a three-run first and single tallies in the third and fourth innings to tie the game at 5-5.

Defiance then capitalized with four runs on three Olivet fielding errors in the fifth to take the 9-5 lead. Brad Timofeev reached on an error to start the rally and advanced on a single off the bat of Pitro. Ensuing errors on balls put in play by Stewart and Brugler led to the first two runs and RBI hits from Kirk Jesse and Ben Gates widened the gap.

DCs lead would shrink to 9-6 as Olivet scraped out a run in the sixth, but the Jackets held on to take the three-run win and complete the sweep.

Pitro and Harris each had three hits in the second game, while Timofeev and Stewart tacked on two of their own.

Defiance improves to 2-3 with the sweep and will try to make it three in a row when it takes on Albion on Thursday. Timofeev will get the start on the mound for DC, with the first pitch scheduled for 11:00 am in Port Charlotte, Fla.