SCORES: G1 – Earlham 12, Franklin 8 / G2 – Franklin 10, Earlham 7
LOCATION: Richmond, Indiana – Randal R. Sadler Stadium
RECORDS: Earlham 18-15 / Franklin 18-10

RICHMOND, Indiana – Earlham College senior Danny Dopp led the Quakers offensively with three home runs over both ends of Saturday's doubleheader with Franklin College, with Earlham coming away with a 12-8 victory in game one before dropping game two, 10-7.

Dopp's three home runs gives him seven round-trippers for the season, tied for fourth among Earlham single season leaders. With 18 career home runs, Dopp also climbed into third among Earlham career home run leaders.

Prior to the start of Saturday's scheduled doubleheader, Earlham and Franklin completed the second game of their doubleheader begun on March 27 and suspended due to darkness after 10 innings with the score tied 8-8.

After a scoreless 11th inning, Earlham stranded runners at first and second in the top of the 12th inning and went into the bottom of the frame looking to hold the Grizzlies. Franklin's Sean Sullivan reached on a one-out infield single, and went to third on Quenton Wellington's ground rule double to right field. After an intentional pass issued to Ryan Bixler, Nick Wright singled through the left side for the game-winning RBI to lift Franklin to the 9-8 victory.

GAME 1
After Franklin took a 4-0 lead by the middle of the second inning, Earlham plated four runs, all unearned, on four hits and two errors to tie the game at 4-4. Easton Embry plated two runs on a single to left field, while Marc Gendreau and Danny Dopp singled home runs later in the frame.

Earlham took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the third, however Franklin regained the advantage on Ryan Bixler's two-run home run to left field in the top of the fourth.

The Quakers took the lead for good with a four-run uprising in the home half of the fourth. Dopp belted a two-run home run that also scored Gendreau, who got aboard with a lead-off single, to put Earlham in front 7-6. Christian Lancianese's base hit into center field plated Austin Hatfield and Maxwell Fries to extend the Quakers' lead to 9-6, with both runs unearned.

Earlham tacked on single runs in the fifth and sixth inning to push its lead to 11-6. Franklin got two runs back in the top of the eighth on Nick Wright's two-run home run, but the Quakers answered in the bottom of the eighth when Hatfield plated Gendreau on a base hit to left field.

Earlham starter Joey Gerbus went six innings and picked up the win, improving to 5-1 overall.

Hatfield finished the game 4-for-5 at the plate with two runs and one run batted in. Dopp and Christian Lancianese each had two hits and three RBI.

Franklin starter Mitch Merica took the loss for the Grizzlies; he was chased after four innings after allowing nine runs, two earned, on nine hits.

GAME 2
Hatfield's three-run blast to straightaway center field, also scoring Dopp and Fries, allowed Earlham to jump out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

Franklin knotted the game at 3-3 in the top of the second, including a solo home run from Logan Demkovich, and took a 6-3 lead with three more runs in the top of the third. Jacob Heuchan plated to of the Grizzlies' runs on a double to left center.

Earlham trimmed Franklin's lead to 6-4 in the home half of the third, and the Grizzlies responded with a run of their own in the fourth.

Dopp's second home run of the day, a shot to left field in the bottom of the fourth, with Connor Drews on base added two more runs for the Quakers and reduced the Grizzlies' lead to 7-6.

Franklin posted three runs in the top of the eighth inning, thanks to back-to-back RBI doubles by Wright and Demkovich and a follow-up RBI single from Tysen Lipscomb, extending its lead to 10-6. Earlham closed the margin slightly with a lead-off home run from Dopp, his third of the day, in the bottom of the ninth.

Nick Carrizales lasted three innings in his seventh start of the season, and was charged with the loss after allowing seven runs, six earned, on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Franklin reliever Alex Reinohl picked up the win after four-and-two-thirds innings of work.

Dopp finished game two with four runs and three RBI on a 3-for-4 effort at the plate, while Hatfield was 2-for-4 with three RBI and one run.

NEXT UP:
Earlham baseball will be on the road on Sunday, May 2, when it travels to Hanover College for a doubleheader against the Panthers. Game one of the doubleheader is slated to start at 1:00 p.m.