RICHMOND, Indiana – Earlham College baseball split its Sunday doubleheader with Case Western Reserve to take the season-opening series from the Spartans. The Quakers won Sunday's first game at Sadler Stadium by a 5-4 score, before dropping the final game by a 7-4 score.

SCORE: G1 - Earlham 5, Case Western Reserve 4 / G2 – Case Western Reserve 7, Earlham 4
LOCATION: Richmond, Ind. – Sadler Stadium
RECORDS: Earlham 2-1 / Case Western Reserve 1-2

HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME 1:

An RBI double by Danny Dopp got Earlham on the scoreboard in the first inning with a single run, however, Case Western Reserve responded with three runs on four hits in the top of the third to take a 3-1 lead.

Dopp homered to left field in the top of the third to cut the margin to 3-2. The Spartans put one run across in the top of the fourth when Owen Levinson scored on a pick off run down with two out.

Earlham tied the game at 4-4 in the home half of the fifth on a two-run double to left field, and the Quakers plated the game-winning run in the seventh when Isaiah Shake's double scored Marc Gendreau. Gendreau reached earlier in the frame on a base hit.

Reliever Aidan Talarek got the win off his three-inning appearance, allowing just one run and fanning two Spartan batters. Senior Jordan Christian picked up his first save of the season. CWRU starter Matt Levine was tagged with the loss after yielding five runs, four earned, on seven hits with six strikeouts.

Dopp led the Quakers with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate with four runs batted in. Gendreau and Shake each had two hits.

HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME 2

Case Western Reserve held a 4-1 lead through four innings, including a solo home run from Cole Jarrett's in the first inning.

Earlham cut the CWRU lead to 4-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. Shake got aboard with a leadoff single, stole second, and scored on Austin Hatfield's base hit. Brian Pincura tripled into the right-center gap later in the frame, plating Hatfield.

A two-out, three-run blast by Case Western Reserve's Jacob Lott in the top of the seventh padded the Spartans' lead to 7-3.

CWRU retired Earlham in order in the seventh and eighth innings. Earlham scored one run in the ninth on a leadoff single by Cameron McCabe and a triple from Pincura, but the next three Quaker batters went down to end Earlham's rally effort.

Earlham starter Louis Lipthratt took the loss; he allowed four earned runs on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Spartan starter Benjamin Gorski fanned eight Earlham batters over six innings on his way to the win.

NEXT UP:

Earlham will host Olivet College for a three-game series next weekend at Sadler Stadium, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 29, starting at 12:00 p.m.