Jackets Pound Mount St. Joseph in Doubleheader Sweep

CINCINNATI – Defiance College earned its first doubleheader sweep of the season against a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe by scoring 23 runs in a pair of victories at Mount St. Joseph on Friday evening.

The Yellow Jackets smacked 29 base hits in the two wins and only trailed for two of the 16 innings, en route to outscoring the Lions by a 23-7 margin. DC bolted to a 6-0 lead in the opener and rolled to the 14-2 win, before overcoming an early, 3-0, deficit to take a 9-5 win in the nightcap.

Aaron Helland led the charge with five hits in six official at bats. The Defiance, Ohio native also walked twice, scored three runs, knocked in six and stole three bases in three attempts. Brad Kremer also racked up five hits and scored four times, while Brent Kremer crossed the plate four times and Bryn Lehman doubled twice among his three hits and picked up nine more assists without committing an error in the field from his shortstop position.

Darin Waterman (3-3) cruised through seven innings for a complete game win in the opening contest and allowed only two earned runs on six hits. The 14-2 victory was Waterman's third complete game of the season and lowered the sophomore ace's earned-run average on the season to 3.51 and 2.82 during six league starts.

After not being needed in the opener, the DC bullpen came through in the second game with Brett Belew, Aaron Patterson and Alex Schomaeker combining to hold MSJ without an earned run over the final six innings of the 9-5 victory. Belew (3-1) recorded the win by working 3.2 innings, while Patterson got the next four outs and Schomaeker slammed the door in the bottom of the ninth.

Defiance (14-24, 7-15 HCAC) will close the 2012 campaign on Saturday, with a 12:00 pm start at MSJ (11-26, 4-20 HCAC).