FRANKLIN, Ind. – Junior Brenna Laird finished 4-5 with four RBIs as the Earlham College baseball team scored nine unanswered runs to down Franklin College 9-4 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) action on Friday.

The Grizzlies (7-11, 2-3 HCAC) tallied six hits including two home runs, plating four runs, in the first two innings.

The Quakers cut into the deficit in the third as Laird singled home Nate Lynch. Two innings later, Lynch got on base for the second time with a single, and again Laird drove Lynch home, this time with a home run on the first pitch of the at bat.

Leading 4-3, Franklin nearly added to its advantage in the sixth. The Grizzlies loaded the bases, but junior Howie Smith forced a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the inning unscathed.

Earlham capitalized the very next inning as junior Matt Barger doubled home junior Eric Elkus to tie the game 4-4. Laird then added his third RBI-hit with a double that scored Barger to give the Quakers their first lead of the game, 5-4.

After Smith stranded two Franklin runners in the bottom of the sixth, the Quakers blew the game open in the seventh. Junior Cody Krumlauf and senior Ethan Bailey capped a four-hit, three-run inning with an RBI-double and two-RBI single respectively. Bailey would score the game's final run with his second career home run in the ninth.

Smith earned his third win of the season allowing four earned runs and striking out nine in eight innings of work. Hayden Cleveland took the loss for Franklin.

Earlham tallied 15 hits as a season. Six of them came from the bottom three in the Quakers' order.

Earlham (14-4, 4-2 HCAC) concludes the series with Franklin with a doubleheader beginning at noon tomorrow (Saturday).