Comeback Bid Falls Short for DC in Road Defeat

ANDERSON, Ind. – Defiance battled back from a 9-4 deficit to tie the game at 9-9 in the eighth inning of its series opener at Anderson on Friday, but could not finish off the rally and fell by a 12-9 margin.

The lead changed hands three times in the ballgame, with Defiance flipping a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead with a fourth-inning rally. The Jackets put their first seven hitters on in the top of the fourth and saw four of them come around on a back-to-back two-run hits from Brad Rittner and Alex Timofeev.

Anderson immediately countered in the bottom half of the frame with a three-run home run to knot the score at 4-4. The Ravens were not done there, as the host team tacked on a single run in the fifth and scored four times in the sixth to widen the gap to 9-4.

The five-run lead would not last however, as Defiance battled back for its second four-run inning of the game. This time a two-run double from Braden Brugler was followed by a triple from Kirk Jesse and a sacrifice fly from Tim Pitro to bring the Jackets back to within a single run.

Casey Kahsen completed the comeback in the top of the eighth inning on one swing of his bat, as the junior cleared the fences for his second home run of the season. The dinger drew DC even at 9-9 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.

The string of five-unanswered scores from Defiance came to a halt in Anderson's next at bat, as the Ravens reclaimed the lead via their second three-run homer of the afternoon. AU would make the lead hold this time by blanking DC in the top of the ninth to secure the 12-9 win.

Defiance pounded out 13 hits in the loss and was led by a 3-5 effort at the plate from Mike Dushane. Jesse, Keith Wade and Kahsen also had multi-hit games for the Purple and Gold, as eight different players had at least one hit.

Friday's loss officially eliminated Defiance (6-26, 2-14 HCAC) from the HCAC Tournament picture but the Jackets can still play a major role in the postseason seeding when they play a doubleheader with Anderson (19-14, 9-7 HCAC) on Saturday beginning at 12:00 pm.