SCORES: G1 – Earlham 8, Defiance 2 / G2 – Earlham 14, Defiance 8
LOCATION: Defiance, Ohio – Rutter Field
RECORDS: Earlham 11-6 / Defiance 4-13

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Earlham College baseball combined for 23 hits on the day over both ends of its doubleheader with Defiance College and posted a sweep over the Yellow Jackets on Friday afternoon at Rutter Field. The Quakers won the first game of the twinbill, 8-2, and completed the sweep with a 14-8 triumph in game two.

GAME 1
Earlham put up runs in three of the first four innings, including a two-run home run from Austin Hatfield in the first inning. After a Defiance run in the home half of the first and single Earlham run in the third to make the score 3-1, the Quakers manufactured two runs in the fourth on two hits and two Yellow Jacket errors. Brian Pincura had an infield single that plated Easton Embry with an unearned run for the Maroon and White.

Defiance got one run back in the seventh, cutting the Earlham lead to 5-2, before the Quakers put the game out of reach with a three-run uprising in the ninth. An RBI single by Connor Drews was one of two Earlham hits in the frame, to go with two walks and two Defiance errors.

Starter Joey Gerbus fanned eight Defiance batters over seven innings on his way to the win, allowing just four hits. Dillon Fischer came on to pitch the eighth and ninth innings to earn his first save.

Drews, Cameron McCabe, and Danny Dopp each had two hits to lead the Quakers at the plate.

GAME 2
Earlham two advantage of three big innings to post a big lead over Defiance, before the Yellow Jackets rallied in the late-going and threatened to make a game of it.

A two-run double from Pincura keyed a four-run second inning for the Quakers, and Earlham extended its lead to 9-1 in the fifth inning on a three-run blast off the bat of Michael Medley.

The Quakers pushed four more runs across in the sixth inning on two hits, four walks, and one Yellow Jacket error, with McCabe and Medley each hitting RBI singles.

Defiance answered with six runs in the seventh, capped by a three-run home run from Michael Reese.

Nick Carrizales got the start on the mound and improved to 3-0 with the win, after lasting six innings and recording three strikeouts. Evan Griswold and Jacob Renner combined to finish off the last three innings.

Drews and McCabe each had three hits while Medley tallied four RBI. Earlham's 14 hits in the game was a season-high for the Quakers, eclipsing the previous mark of 13 set at Transylvania (3/7) and matched at Franklin (3/27).


NEXT UP:
Earlham baseball has the quick turnaround to face Manchester University on Saturday, April 3, at Sadler Stadium. First game of the doubleheader will start at 12:00 p.m.