RICHMOND, Indiana – Sophomore Austin Hatfield's two-out double to right-center allowed pinch runner Jason Grace to score from second, giving Earlham College baseball a 5-4 walk-off victory over Case Western Reserve University, in both teams' season opener on Saturday afternoon at Sadler Stadium.

SCORE: Earlham 5, Case Western Reserve 4
LOCATION: Richmond, Ind. – Sadler Stadium
RECORDS: Earlham 1-0 / Case Western Reserve 0-1

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Case Western Reserve plated two runs in both the first and third innings, with a home run leading off the Spartans' inning on both occasions.

Earlham got on the scoreboard with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Cameron McCabe scored on a bases loaded throwing error by the pitcher, and Isaiah Shake plated a second run on a sacrifice fly to center field.

The Quakers put two more runs on the board in the eighth on an RBI single from Brian Pincura, and a dropped pop fly by the Spartan shortstop that allowed Danny Dopp to cross and tie the game at 4-4.

Pinch hitter Jeordan Kuderer got aboard as the go-ahead run when he was hit by pitcher Tony Smodilla. Grace came in to pinch run for Kuderer, and went to second on Marc Gendreau's grounder to short. After a strikeout by Shake, Dopp was given an intentional pass to bring Hatfield to the plate where he belted a ball to right-center to end the game.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Earlham reliever Nate Hemmerich picked up the win after pitching the eighth and ninth innings for the Quakers, fanning three CWRU batters while allowing one hit.

Starter Joey Gerbus scattered seven hits and struck out four over seven complete innings in the no-decision outing.

Smodilla was tagged with the loss for Case Western Reserve; he struck out three Quaker batters, but allowed two earned runs on three hits and two walks.

NEXT UP:

Earlham and Case Western Reserve will conclude their three-game non-conference set with a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 23, starting at noon.