SCORES: G1 – Earlham 5, Bluffton 4 / G2 – Bluffton 7, Earlham 6
LOCATION: Bluffton, Ohio – Memorial Field
RECORDS: Earlham 16-10 / Bluffton 10-16

BLUFFTON, Ohio – Earlham College baseball took a split out of a pair of one-run nail biters at Bluffton University on Saturday, winning game one, 5-4, on a dropped sacrifice fly to right field in the ninth inning that allowed Jason Grace to score the winning run, and falling in game two, 7-6, after Bluffton singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth.

GAME 1
Bluffton held a 3-2 lead over Earlham after six innings in game one, but the Quakers pulled ahead with a two-run seventh inning. Marc Gendreau opened the frame with a lead-off single, stole second, and scored on Maxwell Fries' base hit. Connor Drew pinch ran for Fries, and crossed later in the inning on Danny Dopp's groundout to third to give Earlham a 4-3 lead.

Bluffton knotted the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth. Jaxon Rogan reached on a triple, and came home on a one-out grounder to second two batters later.

Earlham found the game-winning run in the top of the ninth after Cameron Wissel reached on a lead-off single. Grace came on for Wissel as a pinch runner and stole second, advanced to third on a Gendreau grounder to short, and scored when Brian Pincura's fly ball to right was dropped by the Bluffton outfielder.

Earlham reliever Domanick Michael, who entered the game with two outs in the eighth, retired Bluffton in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn the win. Starter Joey Gerbus went seven innings and recorded four strikeouts in the no-decision.

Fries went 4-for-4 to lead the Quakers at the plate and Wissel finished 2-for-4.

GAME 2
Earlham manufactured a pair of runs in the top of the second inning and held a 2-1 lead after two innings, and extended its lead to 3-1 in the top of the third on a solo home run by Dopp. Bluffton knotted the game up at 3-3 with two runs in the home half of the third.

The Quakers plated three more runs in the top of the sixth on two hits and two Beaver errors, with a fielding error at short by Bluffton on a Michael Medley grounder allowing both Isaiah Shake and Cameron McCabe to score. Both Shake and McCabe got aboard earlier in the frame on base hits. Wissel sacrificed Medley over to second and he advanced to third on a Gendreau grounder to second, but Medley finished the inning stranded on third and Earlham was unable to tack on a fourth run in the inning.

Bluffton answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the sixth, all with two outs. Kenny Schneider singled home one run and Rogan belted a triple to drive in two more Beaver runs and tie things up at 6-6.

The Beavers pushed the go-ahead run across in the bottom of the eighth, after the frame started with a Jeff Strayer single. Eddie Hardaway entered as a pinch runner for Strayer, was immediately sacrificed over to second, and was singled home by Schneider.

Brian Pincura got aboard with a one-out single in the top of the ninth as the Quakers worked to score the game-tying run, but he was caught stealing second for the second out of the inning, and the game ended on an Earlham strikeout.

Justin Dillhoff was charged with the loss in a two-inning appearance after coming on in relief of starter Nick Carrizales with two outs in the sixth.

NEXT UP:
Earlham baseball closes out its five-game road swing on Saturday, April 24, when it hosts Anderson University in an HCAC doubleheader. First pitch of game one is slated for 1:00 p.m.