Baseball Drops HCAC Games at Anderson

ANDERSON, IND. -- The Defiance College baseball team dropped their Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference openers to Anderson (Ind.) University, 21-4 and 14-8, on Saturday at Gand Park in Westfield, Ind.

In the opener, the Ravens scored three runs in the first inning, before dropping 10 runs in the second to take a 13-0 lead over the Yellow Jackets. The Yellow Jackets got on the board in the third with a 2-run double by Troy Konwinski (Allen Park, Mich.) and scored their other two tallies on bases loaded hit by pitch and walk that made it a 15-4 Ravens lead. Anderson added six more in the bottom half to wrap up the 21-4 win.

Junior Garrett Sierra (Defiance) led the Yelllow Jacket offense, as he went 4-of-5 on the day, one of those hits being a triple.

Defiance dropped the nightcap, 14-8, to start out 0-2 in HCAC play.

The Ravens jumped to a 7-0 lead in the first two frames, but Defiance got on the board in the top of the third with a 2-run double by junior Tanner Stippich (Lima/Allen East) to make it a 7-2 game. 

Anderson got the lead to 12-2 before an RBI groundout scored Glen Collier (Zionsville, Ind.) to make it 12-3 heading to the bottom of the seventh. The Ravens added two in the bottom half, but Defiance added a five-spot in the eighth to cut the deficit to 14-8, which would be the final tally.

Stippich led the way for the DC offense in game two, as he went 2-of-5 with three RBI. Jon Brown (Haskins/Otsego) added two RBI, while Collier went 2-for-2 with three runs scored.

Defiance will return to action with an HCAC doubleheader against Bluffton University on Tuesday, Apr. 3. The first game is set for 1 p.m. at Craig A. Rutter Field.