Baseball splits with Hanover on Senior Day

The Defiance baseball team split an HCAC doubleheader with Hanover on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets lost the first game, 5-1 before taking game two, 8-4.

The Basics

• Records: Defiance (8-24, 3-13), Hanover (16-17, 10-6)
• Location: Craig A. Rutter Field - Defiance, Ohio
• Attendance: 125

Notables

• Prior to the start of Game 1, the Defiance baseball team celebrated their six seniors, Tyler Hines, Kendall Duval, Lucas Thomeier, Nate Kaffenbarger, Alex Morr, and Cohen Nies.
• Kaffenbarger tied Ryan Kohlhofer (2013-16) for the program record in career hits with 183.

Game 1

Inside The Numbers

• The seniors led Defiance at the plate with Thomeier going 3-4 and Kaffenbarger going 2-4.
• Junior Austin Horning had Defiance's other hit and scored their own run.
• Junior Dylan King drove in Horning on a sac fly.
• Nies started for the Yellow Jackets and threw 7.1 innings while allowing one run and five hits and striking out five.
• Hines took the loss for Defiance.
• Jacob Dupps led Hanover with two hits.
• Charlie Burton and Jake Danneman each had two RBIs for the Panthers.
• Jaden Siemer earned the win.

The Difference

• After six and a half scoreless innings King drove in Horning to put Defiance up 1-0.
• Hanover took the lead thanks to a five-run, three-hit eighth inning in which they also had four batters hit by pitches. 

Game 2

Inside The Numbers

• Horning had two hits and scored twice.
• Sophomore Trent Murdock went 2-3 with a pair of doubles and drove in two runs.
• Sophomore Mitchell Roever also had two hits.
• Freshman Jacob Hild drove in two runs.
• Sophomore John Hammerstein got the start and struck out four over 4.2 innings.
• Freshman Sam Thombs relieved Hammerstein and threw 4.1 shutout innings to earn the win.
• Burton and Connor Farnsley each had three hits for the Panthers.
• Marcus Goodpaster took the loss for Hanover.

The Difference

• Hanover scored runs in each of the first three innings before Defiance scored four runs off two hits and a Panther error in the bottom of the third.
• The Panthers tied the game off an RBI single by Fransley in the fifth.
• Horning and Kaffenbarger led off the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back singles before Hunter Bostater walked to load the bases for Murdock who then drove in Horning with a sac fly pop-up in foul ground. Defiance then added a run off a Hanover error and an RBI single from Roever to give themselves some breathing room with a 7-4 lead.
• Hild made the DC lead 8-4 with a sac fly in the bottom of the seventh.
• Despite outhitting Defiance 13-8, Hanover was doomed by three errors and walked seven Yellow Jackets.

Up Next

• Defiance will host Heidelberg tomorrow Sunday, May 1 at Rutter Field for a non-conference game. The first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.