Yellow Jackets Drop Pair on Diamond to Thunder

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College baseball team suffered a pair of losses on Saturday to Trine, falling 2-1 and 8-3 in the non-conference doubleheader. Matt Kaighin tossed a complete game gem in the opener, while Levi Pauli provided the offensive highlight with a homer in the second contest.

Kaighin carried a one-hitter through 4.2 innings of the first game of the afternoon and did not allow an earned run in his seven innings of work on the bump. The senior hurler yielded only two hits and struck out five but was given the loss, after DC could not overcome surrendering a pair of unearned runs in the second inning.

The Yellow Jacket offense was stifled by en equally impressive performance from Thunder ace, Kale Popp, who needed only 66 pitches to breeze through his six scoreless frames. Popp allowed the first two DC hitters of the game to reach base, before retiring his next 15 batters.

Defiance threatened in the sixth, after Alex Timofeev was hit by a pitch to open the inning and a one-out error put the tying runners on base. DC could not capitalize however, as TU escaped without damage to hold the 2-0 lead into the seventh.

The Jackets mounted another rally in the seventh, with Darin Waterman starting things with a walk and Brent Kremer providing a single with one out to put runners on the corners. An infield single off the bat of Timofeev plated Brent James to cut the deficit in half and end a 19 inning scoreless streak by the DC offense.

Defiance then had narrowly missed drawing even, as Pauli lined a ball back up the middle and off the foot of the Trine hurler. The deflection kept the ball in the infield and forced Kremer to stop at third base as the potential tying run, where he would be stranded on the ensuing ground out to end the 2-1 defeat.

The bats would perk up in the second game, as DC plated a run in three of the first four innings. The offensive uptick would not be enough however, as Trine scored four times in the second inning and led the rest of the way in the 8-3 contest.

Pauli stroked his first collegiate home run in the fourth inning, while Zach Stallkamp and David Riley each laced a double among their two-hit showings at the plate.

Brett Belew sparkled in his two innings out of the pen, holding the Thunder scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings and needing only 23 pitches.

DC (1-9) will host Albion on Sunday at 1:00 pm in another non-conference twinbilling at Craig A. Rutter Field.