DC Baseball Opens Hanover (Ind.) Series With Split

DEFIANCE, OHIO  --  The Defiance College baseball team took one of two games in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Hanover (Ind.) College at Craig A. Rutter Field.  The Yellow Jackets beat the Panthers, 5-1 in game one, but fell, 3-1, in the nightcap.

Defiance (13-13, 8-9 HCAC) took the early lead in game one by scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning on a defensive error and a RBI double by junior Gary Levengood (Beverly Hills, Fla./Lecanto).  Hanover (11-14, 7-10 HCAC) cut the deficit in half in the very next inning with a run to make it a 2-1 ballgame.  The Yellow Jackets came right back in their half of the inning and answered the run thanks to a RBI fielder's choice with bases loaded to extend the margin back to two runs, 3-1.  DC tacked on insurance runs in the fifth and eighth innings on a RBI double by junior Ryan Kohlhofer (Walbridge/Lake) and a second RBI base hit by Levengood to round out the scoring as the Jackets went on to win by the final of 5-1.

Defiance ended the game with 11 hits, led by junior Ben Weber (Troy/Lehman Catholic) who had three hits in five attempts and also scored a run and a RBI.  Levengood finished two-of-two with his two RBI and Kohlhofer went two-of-four with a RBI.  Junior Royce Laurendeau (Clyde) also recorded a multi-hit game going two-of-four.  

Sophomore pitcher Dave Blanch (Alliston, Ont./Banting Memorial) pitched a complete game and picked up his third win of the season to improve to 3-2 overall.  In nine innings, Blanch allowed just the lone run on six hits and had one strikeout.

In game two, Hanover grabbed the early lead with a three-run top of the second inning, but DC got one of the runs back in the bottom of the frame with a RBI ground out by senior Ian Burkhart (Fremont, Ind./Fremont) to make the score 3-1.  The combined four runs would be all the scoring in the game despite Defiance threatening late with bases loaded in the ninth, but could not get any runs across home plate as the Jackets fell by the final of 3-1.

The Jackets tallied five hits in the game with Weber being the only multi-hitter with a two-of-three effort at the plate.  Kohlhofer, sophomore Quinten Harrington (Sandusky/Perkins) and sophomore Tre' DeVoe (Allen Park, Mich./Allen Park) also had a base hit.

Despite the loss, DC got another strong pitching performance, this time from sophomore Matt Clark who went the distance allowing three runs, none earned, on nine hits and had three strikeouts.  He is now 2-3 overall for the season with the loss.

Defiance and Hanover will return to action tomorrow to conclude the three-game series with a single, nine-inning game at Rutter Field.  Due to the threat of inclement weather, the start time for the game has been pushed up to 11 a.m.