Yellow Jackets Outlasted by Bluffton

BLUFFTON, OHIO  --  The Defiance College baseball team fell short of rival Bluffton University, 5-3, in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game at Memorial Field in Bluffton.

Defiance (8-8, 3-5 HCAC) ended the game with 10 hits and recorded four of those hits in the top of the first inning to score a pair of runs on back-to-back RBI-singles by junior Gary Levengood (Beverly Hills, Fla./Lecanto) and senior Joel Musser (Center Line, Mich./Center Line) to lead 2-0.  Bluffton (14-6, 7-1 HCAC) rallied from the early deficit with a three-run second to move ahead, 3-2.  

The Beavers tacked on additional runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to extend the margin to 5-2 heading into the ninth inning.  The Yellow Jackets began the top of the ninth with consecutive outs.  Sophomore Quinten Harrington (Sandusky/Perkins) followed with a base hit to give DC life and extend the inning.  Harrington then came around to score on a passed ball, a balk and then a second passed ball to cut the deficit to 5-3.  Time was not on DC's side however, as the Jackets hit into the game-ending out on the ensuing at-bat, giving Bluffton the 5-3 win.

Harrington was one of two players to finish the game with multiple hits going two-of-four in addition to the run scored.  Senior Chris Donese (Kettering/Fairmont) also went two-of-four at the plate and also scored a run.  Levengood and Musser both recorded a hit in four attempts and both scored a RBI.  Junior Ryan Kohlhofer (Walbridge/Lake), junior Ben Weber (Troy/Lehman Catholic), senior Ian Burkhart (Fremont, Ind./Fremont) and sophomore Zack Reed (Midland, Mich./Bullock Creek) rounded out the Defiance hitters with a base hit each.

Freshman Jacob Green (Defiance) started the game on the mound for DC and pitched five-and-a-third innings allowing five runs, three earned, and nine hits while striking out two batters.  Green was also credited with the loss and is now 1-1 overall.  Sophomore Nick Watkins (Lima/Central Catholic) completed the game and ptiched two and two-thirds perfect innings allowing no runs or hits and tallied three strikeouts.

Defiance is scheduled to host Franklin (Ind.) College in a HCAC three-game series this weekend beginning on Friday (Apr. 3) with a pair of nine inning games at Craig A. Rutter Field.  The first game on Friday is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.