Baseball ends 2021 season with HCAC Championship loss at top-seed Transy

LEXINGTON, Kentucky – In a best-of-three series to start the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship, the Defiance College baseball team had its 2021 season come to an end with an 8-2 loss on Saturday afternoon to the Transylvania University Pioneers at Whitaker Bank Ballpark, home of the Lexington Legends.

Transylvania wins the best-of-three series, 2-0, after posting an 11-9, 11-inning victory on Friday night.

The tournament's opening round is being played at the higher seeds. Defiance came into the event seeded No. 10 while the Pioneers, who claimed the 2021 HCAC regular-season championship, is the No. 1 seed.

Transy established a 4-0 lead after four innings on Saturday before the Yellow Jackets cut their deficit in half in the fifth. The hosts stretched their advantage by scoring once in the seventh and three runs in the eight while holding DC scoreless over the final four innings.

Defiance was outhit, 10-7, and each team was guilty of two errors. At the plate, TU walked four times and struck out only twice, compared to two and 10, respectively, for the Yellow Jackets. DC left nine runners on base and Transylvania eight.

Lucas Thomeier reached base on four occasions for Defiance, going 3 for 4 with a hit-by-pitch and run scored while Nate Kaffenbarger produced a two-run single. Zach Johnson came off the bench with a pinch-hit double in the ninth inning while Josh Vischer also had a two-base hit.

The Yellow Jackets' Daniel Tomalak pitched the first four innings with a pair of strikeouts and took the loss. In relief, Will Bohlman allowed just two hits over 2.2 innings as DC used four pitchers in the game.

Defiance finishes the campaign with a 6-33 overall record while the Pioneers move on in the HCAC Championship at 28-10. Of the Jackets' losses, seven were by one run and another five by two runs.