Jackets Fall to Spartans in Series Finale

NORTH MANCHESTER, IND.  --  In the third and final meeting of the season, the Defiance College baseball team fell to Manchester (Ind.) University, 9-4, in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference single game in North Manchester, Ind.

Manchester (19-14, 13-7 HCAC) got the scoring going with a run in the bottom of the first inning and then added two more runs in the second to lead, 3-0. 

The deficit remained three runs until the bottom of the fifth when Manchester tacked on three more runs to extend the margin to a commanding 6-0 advantage.  The Spartans continued the offense with a solo homerun in the seventh before Defiance (16-17, 9-11 HCAC) got on the board with two runs in the top of the eighth that came on a single by senior Ben Weber (Troy/Lehman Catholic) and a double by freshman Tyler Weaver (Defiance).  But Manchester answered the scores with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning to make the score, 9-2.

In the top of the ninth, DC plated two runs on RBI-singles by sophomore Dom Gentile (Defiance) and senior Gary Levengood (Beverly Hills, Fla./Lecanto).  The Yellow Jackets looked to keep momentum going with bases loaded later in the inning, but with two outs.  Before any additional runs could cross homeplate, Manchester would get DC to hit into the game-ending out sealing the 9-4 victory and the three-game series sweep.

Defiance outhit Manchester, 13-8, and had two players finish with three hits in Levengood and Weber.  Levengood went three-of-five with a run scored and a RBI.  Weber was three-of-four to go along with a RBI.  Junior Ryan Kohlhofer (Walbridge/Lake) had two hits in five at-bats in addition to scoring two runs.  Freshman Michael Gilliland (Napoleon) rounded out the mulit-hitters with a pair of hits in four attempts.

Sophomore pitcher Jacob Green (Defiance) started the game and pitched four innings giving up six runs, two earned, on three hits and had four strikeouts.  He was also credited with the loss and is 0-4 overall for the season.  Freshman Bryce Alabata (Bryan) pitched two and two-thirds innings of relief and gave up one run on two hits and struck out two batters.  Sophomore Izzy Martinez (Defiance/Tinora) finished the game and allowed two runs on three hits to go along with two strikeouts in an inning-and-a-third.

Defiance is scheduled to host Mount St. Joseph University for a three-game set on Friday-Saturday, Apr. 29-30.  The two teams will begin the series with a single game on Friday with the contest scheduled to begin at 4:15 p.m.