Baseball splits with Swarthmore on first day of Florida trip

FORT MEYERS, Fla. - The Defiance College Baseball team opened up its spring break trip with a double header split against Swarthmore on its first day in Fort Meyers. The Yellow Jackets fell to the Garnet 6-4 in game one, but rebounded with a 5-2 win in the second game.

The day didn't start well for the Yellow Jackets, falling behind 6-0 through four innings. Through the four innings, Swarthmore scored six runs, three earned, off of Darin Waterman on five hits and two walks.

From that point the Yellow Jackets offense kicked in with nine runs while Defiance pitching limited Swarthmore to just two runs on nine hits over the remaining 14 innings.

Defiance's first run came on a Joel Musser RBI single which scored Gary Levengood.  In the bottom of the 6th, the Yellow Jackets added 3 more runs to cut the deficit to 6-4.

Darin Waterman singled with one out and advanced to 2nd on a base on balls by Pat Masopust. Quinten Harrington followed with a RBI single to score Waterman from second. Musser then picked up two more RBIs with a double to score both Masopust and Harrington.

Despite cutting the gap, to two runs, Defiance was unable to generate any more offense in the late innings, falling to the Garnet in game one.

Matt Goodpaster and Nick Ewalt pitched well for the Yellow Jackets in relief. Both only allowed two base runners, giving up a combined three hits and a walk, while allowing no runs.

Chris Donese joined Musser as the only other Yellow Jacket to recorded multiple hits in the game, also with two.

In game two, both teams scored a pair of runs in the early innings, but it was the Yellow Jackets who grabbed the lead in the top of the seventh inning. Ryan Kohlhofer led the seventh off with a triple but was caught trying to score on a wild pitch.  

Aaron Helland followed with a double and Donese hit a RBI single to give DC the lead 3-2.  After Waterman reached on an error, Masopust followed with a RBI double to score both Donese and Waterman and give the Yellow Jackets a 3-run cushion headed to the bottom of the 7th.

Freshman Matt Clark pitched a scoreless seventh frame to earn his first collegiate save. Dave Blanch picked up the win, allowing the two runs on five hits in six innings of work.

The Yellow Jackets will return to action Tuesday with a double header against Edgewood. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.