Engineers Take Pair of Pitcher's Duels Over Defiance

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Darin Waterman and Jake Taylor each tossed a complete game, holding Rose-Hulman to six earned runs and nine hits over 16 innings of work but the Yellow Jackets could not pull out a victory. Defiance fell 3-1 in the opener, before suffering a 4-2 defeat in the nightcap.

The Jackets jumped on top early in the first game, using a single from Chris Donese, a sacrifice bunt from Bryn Lehman and a single from Waterman to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning. DC would only get one more hit the rest of the way however, as Rose-Hulman got two runs in the third and one in the fourth to take the opener.

Waterman (1-1) held the Engineers to five hits and three runs over his seven innings of work and retired five batters on strikes in the losing effort.

The second contest followed a similar flow, as the Donese started the game with a single and was later driven home by Waterman for a 1-0 lead in the opening inning.

Taylor made the lead hold into the top of the fifth, as the junior hurler took a no-hitter through 4.2 innings, before losing the no-hit bid and the shutout in one swing of the bat. A long home run to right field by Jamie Weinle tied the game at 1-1.

The score remained gridlocked into the eighth, before Weinle disrupted Taylor once again with a one-out walk. Rose-Hulman eventually took the lead on a sacrifice fly, scoring Weinle for the 2-1 advantage and pushed the spread to 4-1 on a two-out, two-run blast to left from Donald Stopka in the top of the ninth.

The insurance tallies were needed, as Andy Habecker roped a double into the left-center gap to open the top of the ninth and later scored on a single from Brent Kremer. The Jackets then moved runners to second and third with two outs, before Rose-Hulman's Ryan Fuller slammed the door with a called third strike to seal the 4-2 victory for the visitors.

Taylor (2-2) allowed only four hits over his nine innings but was hurt by three of his four runs allowed coming off of home runs. Taylor needed only 104 pitches in the complete game and yielded only three earned runs.

Donese sparked the Jackets from the leadoff position in the lineup with three hits and two runs on the afternoon. Waterman extended his hitting streak to 10-straight games and picked up a pair of RBI, while Brent Kremer added two hits and drove in one run.

DC (6-8, 0-2 HCAC) and Rose-Hulman (11-4, 2-0 HCAC) will wrap up the series on Sunday, with the first pitch slated for 1:00 pm.