Yellow Jackets put up 11 in win over Rose

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The bats came out to open up a weekend series with Rose-Hulman and DC took advantage of six Rose errors to win 11-3.

Defiance (9-27, 3-20 HCAC) scored five runs on the Fightin' Engineers (21-16, 14-9 HCAC) in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach.

Aaron Grasing (Carmel, Calif. / Carmel) went 7.2 innings and gave up three runs, one which was earned, five hits and struck out six.  He did not give up a run until the sixth inning.  He also did not allow a hit until the third inning.

Gary Levengood (Beverly Hills, Fla. / Lecanto) got things started for the Yellow Jackets in the second inning.  He reached first as he was hit by a pitch on a 3-0 count.  Patrick Masopust (Royal Oak, Mich. / Shrine Catholic) moved Levengood over to third after a single and a throwing error.  A passed ball got Levengood home and put DC up 1-0.

Small ball in the third got DC its next run.  Chris Donese (Kettering, Ohio / Fairmont) started out the inning with a double down the leftfield line.  Aaron Helland (Defiance, Ohio / Defiance) bunted him to third and Ryan Kohlhofer (Walbridge, Ohio / Lake) hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to score the second Yellow Jacket run.

DC put a good amount of distance between itself and Rose in the fourth as DC went off for three runs in the home half of the inning.  Ben Weber (Troy, Ohio / Lehman Catholic) singled through the middle on the second pitch of his at bat to put one on with nobody out.  An error by Rose allowed Levengood to get to first and Weber to advance to second with still no outs in the fourth.  A balk from the RHIT pitcher put two in scoring position for DC.  Masopust found a hole that brought in Weber and advanced Levengood to third.  After two quick outs, Donese hit a single for two runs as Masopust and Levengood both crossed the plate.  DC held a commanding 5-0 at that point.

Weber brought in Kohlhofer in the bottom of the fifth after Kohlhofer beat out an infield single and stole second base.  He then advanced to third after Rose could not make a play at second when Kohlhofer slid in before the throw.  Weber then turned on one with a 1-2 count against him to bring in the run.

Rose finally found a score in the top of the sixth to stop the bleeding and make the score 6-1.

The Yellow Jackets did the rest of their scoring in the bottom of the inning.  Matt Staels (Harrison Township, Mich. / L'Anse Creuse) added a hit to start off the inning to add to his two spectacular diving catches in centerfield.  Donese bunted Staels over before Helland came up to eventually bat Staels home.  A Rose error allowed Helland to get all the way to second and Staels to score to make the score 7-1.

Kohlhofer then doubled home Helland at the very next at bat.  Darin Waterman (Celina, Ohio / Celina) singled to left and advanced to second when Rose tried to gun Kohlhofer down at third with no success.  A Weber single allowed Waterman to advance to third and brought Kohlhofer across the plate for DC's ninth run of the game.

Levengood then hit a bullet back to the pitcher and Waterman scored as Rose had no play available after the ball bounced all the way to the DC dugout.  Masopust then brought in the last DC run with a single to leftfield that brought in Weber.  DC led 11-1 after six.

Grasing and Chris Douglas (Wixom, Mich. / Walled Lake Western) finished out the last three innings with minimum damage and secured the 11-3 Yellow Jacket win.

Masopust, Donese, and Weber led the way for DC at the plate as all three batters recorded three hits and two RBIs.  Kohlhofer also added two RBIs and a double.

DC went 8-19 with runners in scoring position to put the pressure on Rose-Hulman all game long.

The Yellow Jackets close out the season tomorrow with a doubleheader against the Fightin' Engineers.  Game one start time is set for noon.