Yellow Jackets swept in conference-opening doubleheader at Hanover

HANOVER, Ind. -- The Defiance Yellow Jackets began the conference slate with a visit to Hanover and were dealt a pair of losses, 8-1 and 13-3, to the Panthers at K.T. Young Ballpark on Sunday. Hanover was led by two strong pitching performances that stymied DC's bats, who were held to 10 total hits and four runs on the afternoon. 

Defiance drops to 2-9, 0-2 HCAC on the campaign while the Panthers moved to 12-6 and 3-1 in the conference after opening against Transylvania on Saturday.

Game 1 - Hanover 8, Defiance 1

Defiance faced the HCAC's reigning pitcher of the year in Marcus Goodpaster (8-0, 2.13 ERA in 2023) during the first contest of the day as the right-hander from Indianapolis earned his third victory of the season. Holding the Yellow Jackets to three hits over five innings, Jack Brubaker-Flood's (Wolverine Lake, Mich./Walled Lake Central) third-inning RBI single was Defiance's lone scoring strike in the game.

The Panthers tagged DC starter Aiden Behrman (Deshler, Ohio/Patrick Henry) for four runs through four batters in the opening frame to take command early. Following a single, double, and walk to open the inning, cleanup hitter Eric Roudebush uncorked a three-run homer for Hanover before Behrman bounced back to retire the next three hitters. The right-handed freshman settled in to give Defiance four innings, including a 1-2-3 third, and worked against two hitters in the fifth before being lifted. He was charged with six runs in all and struck out a pair while allowing eight hits. 

Game 2 - Hanover 13, Defiance 3

The second game featured a strong outing on the mound with Hanover's Dalton Sisson going the distance in a run-rule 13-3 contest. Sisson fanned 10 Yellow Jackets and did not issue a walk while holding DC to three runs on five hits.

All three runs by the Yellow Jackets were scored in the sixth inning while training 10-0. After Mitchell Roever (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) was hit by a pitch to start the inning, DC roped three doubles in the inning by Brubaker-Flood, Connor Gephart (Lima, Ohio/LCC), and Trent Murdock (Liberty Center, Ohio/Liberty Center) to plate the trio of runs. Hanover answered in the bottom of the frame, however, and kept the run rule in effect entering the seventh, where the Jackets went down 1-2-3 against Sisson.

The Panthers compiled big innings in the second (five runs) and fifth (four runs) while building the early lead. Eight different players reached the hit column for Hanover while compiling five doubles in the contest. Each Logan Kunkel (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) and Johnny Hammerstein (Canton, Mich./Father Gabriel Richard) were charged with five earned runs on the hill for Defiance.  

BRINGING THE STING

• Connor Gephart piled up four of Defiance's 10 hits on the afternoon. The sophomore first baseman went a combined 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI while also earning his way on base with a hit-by-pitch in each game.
• Jack Brubaker-Flood totaled 2-for-6 with a walk, double and RBI for the day. He was the only other hitter along with Gephart to record a hit in each game.
• Tyler Dehan reached base twice during the first game with a single and a walk and scored the team's only run.
• Jacob Hild and Gunner Gregg also tallied single hits in each ballgame.

UP NEXT

Defiance returns to the diamond on Monday with a home doubleheader against the Franklin Grizzlies. First pitch at Rutter Field is set for 1 p.m. 

-JACKETS-