Defiance Drops Game to No. 24 Adrian

ADRIAN, Mich. – Kirk Jesse tripled home a pair of runs and later scored on an Aaron Stewart single to give Defiance a 3-1 lead over the No. 24 Adrian Bulldogs on Wednesday night, but the home team would rally for the 14-4 victory.

The Yellow Jackets busted out for three runs in the top of the third by capitalizing on an Adrian error to ignite the rally. Casey Kahsen reached on a one-out error and Brandon Belew followed that up with a walk. After the second out of the inning was recorded, Jesse stepped in and split the right-center field gap for the two-run triple and a 2-1 Defiance lead. Tim Pitro then worked a walk to extend the frame and Stewart dropped a single into right field to score Jesse and push the DC advantage to 3-1.

The lead did not last long, as Adrian fired back with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the third and then added to the cushion by scoring in the next five innings. The big blow came in the sixth, when AC countered the fourth run of the game by Defiance with five runs of its own to blow open the game and build the 12-4 lead.

The Bulldogs would tack on runs in the seventh and eight to complete the 14-4 victory and ended the game with 14 runs on 16 hits against six DC pitchers. The Jackets ended with four runs on just five hits in the loss.

Jesse was the star at the plate for Defiance, going 1-3 with a walk, two runs scored and a pair of RBI. Joining Jesse in the hit column were Stewart, Brad Timofeev, Alex Timofeev and Braden Brugler.

Defiance (3-9) will open its Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule this weekend with a three-game set at Transylvania (9-2, 1-0 HCAC). The series will begin on Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm and end with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12:00 pm.