SCORES: G1 – Franklin 12, Earlham 9 (10 inn.) / G2 – Earlham 8, Franklin 8 (11 inn. – suspended)
LOCATION: Franklin, Indiana – McDowell Field
RECORDS: Earlham 7-5 / Franklin 6-3

FRANKLIN, Indiana – The Earlham College baseball team had a disappointing day on the diamond at McDowell Field against Franklin College on Saturday, March 27, where they dropped Game 1 in a heartbreaking walk-off 10 inning affair, 12-9, with Game 2 ending 8-8 in the 11^th inning due to darkness with the remainder of the game scheduled to conclude when Franklin College visits Sadler Stadium on May 1.

Franklin College won the opening game despite trailing 8-5 after the fifth inning, and then again trailing 7-5 after the sixth inning in the second game.  With the Game 1 loss Earlham falls to 7-5 overall while Franklin College improves to 6-3 overall.

GAME 1
Franklin jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after the first inning with RBIs coming from Nick Wright and Jacob Heuchan.  The Grizzlies had four hits to start.

Earlham quickly answered with one run in the top of the second, when Austin Hatfield scored on an RBI single off the bat of Connor Drews to make it 2-1.  The Quakers struck again in the third inning when Hatfield doubled to left center driving in two runs followed by a single from Danny Dopp that plated Hatfield and gave Earlham a 4-1 lead after three.

The Quakers struck in a big way in the fifth when they scored five more runs to give them an 8-3 lead at the time.  With three batters getting plunked, a pitching change, and two errors by Franklin, Earlham capitalized on the mistakes.

The momentum changed in the ninth inning when starting pitcher Joey Gerbus was lifted after eight innings of three-run, seven-hit pitching.  This time it was Earlham who struggled with walks and an error that setup a three-run homerun off the bat of Quenton Wellington and a few batters later a two run game tying homerun from Wright.

The Quakers did take the lead in the tenth inning 9-8 when they manufactured a lead-off single from Marc Gendreau into the go ahead run at the time.  The lead was short lived however as Wright connected on a walkoff grand slam that gave the hosts the victory.

The Quaker bullpen pitched 1-2/3 innings while giving up nine runs after Gerbus left in the ninth inning.  Wright led Franklin with seven RBIs while Hatfield drove in three runs for Earlham.  Dopp returned to the lineup and had three hits in his first game back.

GAME 2
Earlham got the scoring going early in the first inning when Brian Pincura turned a leadoff walk, a wild pitch, and a stolen base into a first inning run that gave the Quakers a 1-0 lead.  Jeordon Kuderer drove in the run with a single.

Franklin took their first lead of the game in the third inning when they scored a pair of runs on three hits for a 2-1 lead.  Earlham answered the call in the fourth inning when they plated three runs on three hits.  Cameron McCabe, Marc Gendreau, and Brian Pincura each had RBIs.

Franklin answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth to regain the lead 5-4.  Sean Sullivan had the big blast with a three-run homerun.

It was Earlham's turn to answer and that they did with two more runs in the top of the fifth inning to give the visitors a 6-5 lead.  After back-to-back hits from Hatfield and Dopp, it was Nathaniel Whetstine that delivered a single that plated two.  Earlham got an insurance run in the sixth when Dopp hit a solo shot to give the Quakers a 7-5 lead at the time. 

Much like the opening game, it was the host Grizzlies who scored the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings.

Nick Carrizales went six innings for Earlham giving up seven runs and getting a no decision.  Dopp and Kuderer each had three hits, while McCabe and Whetstine each drove in a pair of runs.

NEXT UP:
Earlham baseball returns to Sadler Stadium on Sunday March 28 with a doubleheader against Hanover College with games due to start at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. respectively.