Baseball falls twice to Franklin in HCAC doubleheader

The Defiance baseball team was swept by the Franklin on Sunday afternoon in an HCAC doubleheader. The Grizzlies took game one, 10-2, and edged out the Yellow Jackets, 7-4 in 10 innings in the second game.

The Basics

• Records: Defiance (6-14, 1-5), Franklin (20-6, 5-1)
• Location: Defiance, Ohio - Defiance High School
• Attendance: 78

Game 1

Inside The Numbers

• Senior Alex Morr reached base four times off two hits and two walks. Morr stole a base and scored twice.
• Senior Lucas Thomeier and sophomore Trent Murdock each had two hits.
• Senior Cohen Nies struck out seven over 5.1 innings and surrendered five runs to take his first loss of the season.
• Senior Tyler Hines picked off three runners and struck out three hitters over his 2.2 innings of relief work.
• Logan Demkovich went 3-4 with a home run, two doubles, and three RBIs.
• AJ Sanders tripled twice and drove in two runs.
• Nick McClanahan earned the win on the mound after striking out eight over six innings and allowing one run off of three hits.

The Difference

• Demkovich homered in the top of the third to give Franklin a 2-0 lead.
• Senior Nate Kaffenbarger cut the lead in half with an RBI double down the right-field line in the bottom of the 5th.
• The Grizzlies got three runs in the top of the sixth off a two-run double by Matt Earley who then scored on a Sean Sullivan two-bagger.
• Sanders drove in another Franklin run with a triple to deep center field in the seventh.
• In the DC half of the seventh Murdock drove in a run with a single to center.
• Franklin added four runs in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach.
• The Grizzlies outhit the Yellow Jackets 14-7.

Game 2

Inside The Numbers

• Kaffenbarger and sophomore Billy McNamara each had two hits.
• Freshman Sam Thombs started for Defiance and threw five innings while allowing two runs and three hits.
• Hines took the loss for Defiance.
• Sanders and Sullivan each had two hits for Franklin.
• Colby Reed drove in four runs for the Grizzlies.
• Jackson Young threw seven shutout innings for Franklin and struck out eight.
• Alex Reinoehl threw three innings in relief and earned the win.

The Difference

• Young outdueled Thombs with Franklin scoring two runs in the second off a wild pitch and an RBI groundout.
• Franklin added runs in the sixth and the eighth to make the score 4-0.
• Defiance cut the lead to 4-3 in the eighth after a wild pitch and two RBI groundouts.
• McNamara led off the bottom of the ninth with a double down the left-field line and was pinch-ran for by freshman Tyler Dehan. Dehan then advanced to third after escaping a pickoff attempt and rundown and scored to tie the game on a hard-hit single off the third baseman by junior Josh Vischer.
• The game went into extra innings where Franklin rallied for three runs.
• Reinoehl struck out two in the bottom of the 10th to close out the game.

Up Next

• Defiance will play a single nine-inning game at Ohio Wesleyan on April 13 with the first pitch set for 4:00 PM.