Yellow Jackets Split Rivalry Matchup with Bluffton

DEFIANCE, OHIO -- The Defiance College baseball team dropped the opener, 7-0, but rebounded to win the nightcap, 11-0, in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Bluffton University at Craig A. Rutter Field on Thursday.

Game one saw Bluffton arms Colby Clifton, and Dante D'Andrea combine for a two-hitter as Defiance dropped the 7-0 decision. The Beavers scored one run in the second and followed that up with four unearned runs with two outs in the third frame to take a quick 5-0 lead and never looked back.

Sophomore Jon Brown (Haskins/Otsego) made the start for Defiance, allowing eight hits and six runs, only one earned, in 6.1 innings of work. Sophomore Kody King (Cecil/Fairview) threw the final 2.2 innings, allowing one earned run on two hits with three strikeouts.

Both hits for DC in game one belonged to senior Glen Collier (Zionsville, Ind.) who had a pair of singles and also stole a base in the loss.

The bats came alive for the nightcap at Rutter Field, as the Yellow Jackets came home with an 11-2 win.

The scoring started in the second frame, when sophomore Ben Bucklew (Archbold) knocked in sophomore Jude Neary (Toledo/Cardinal Stritch Catholic), who doubled to start the inning, to give Defiance a 1-0 lead.

Defiance loaded the bases in the fifth on a single, a walk, and a hit by pitch, before sophomore Tanner Stippich (Lima/Allen East) was hit by a pitch to score a run and make it a 2-0 lead. Neary came up and hit his second double of the game, this one to right center to clear the bases and give Defiance a 5-0 lead through five.

They kept churning the offense in the sixth, as a base-hit by junior Troy Konwinski (Allen Park, Mich.) made it a 6-0. Stippich took a bases-loaded walk to score Collier, and that was followed by a two-run single by junior Grant Vickery (Bellevue) that gave Defiance a 9-0 lead. Freshman Lucas Thomeier (Wickliffe) wrapped up the Defiance scoring with a two-run single to center field that made the score 11-0.

The Beavers scored a pair of runs in the eighth inning, but Defiance freshman Cohen Nies (Logansport, Ind.) entered the game and slammed the door to finish the 11-2 win for the Yellow Jackets.

Freshman Michael Reese (Constantine, Mich.) earned his first career collegiate victory on the mound, going 7.1 innings and allowing two runs, both coming in the eighth inning, along with three hits. Reese also struck out four Beavers.

Neary led the way with the bats for Defiance, going 2-for-2 with a a pair of doubles and three RBI. Thomeier, Vickery, and Stippich finished with two RBI each, as well, for DC in game two.

The Yellow Jackets continue HCAC play on Saturday, Apr. 7 as they travel to Lexington, Ky. to take on the Transylvania University Pioneers for a pair of contests. First pitch for the opener is set for 12 p.m.