RICHMOND – The Earlham College baseball team began its 2022 season with a doubleheader sweep against Olivet College on Saturday afternoon.
The Quakers begin the season 2-0 while the Comets start 0-2.
GAME ONE: Earlham: 20 Olivet: 4
Zach Swearingen led the Quaker offense with four hits on six at bats. The junior recorded four RBIs and three runs in his efforts.
Justin Dillhoff earned the win for Earlham with five complete innings pitched. The sophomore allowed just four hits and two earned runs while on the mound.
Jacob Renner came in four relief at the start of the sixth inning and allowed four hits by the Comets.
After leaving a runner on base in the first inning, the Quakers began the scoring in the second when a double from
Andrew Bradley knocked
Devin Basley home. Bradley scored on the next play from a double by Swearingen, who came home after a throwing error on the next batter.
Olivet scored in the top of the third after a sacrifice bunt and a double moved a batter around the bases.
Basley earned another RBI in the third inning when he hit a single to right field which brought
Cameron McCabe home for the score.
Earlham scored off of back-to-back plays in the fourth inning by the Lancianese brothers.
Christian Lancianese scored on a sacrifice fly to center field, and
Nathan Lancianese reached home on the next play with a McCabe grounder. After an error, the Quakers scored a pair of unearned runs from
Michael Medley and
Jeordon Kuderer.
After a walk, Olivet scored a run on a double to right-center field to start the fifth inning.
Earlham notched another run when McCabe broke for second base for a steal, the Olivet catcher attempted to stop the steal but allowed
Maxwell Fries to score on the throw. McCabe scored on the following play with a double from Kuderer bringing him home.
A pair of doubles at the start of the sixth brought in another run for Olivet as Renner took over on the mound for Earlham.
Earlham scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth from Bradley, Swearington and
Christian Lancianese.
A massive five-run inning in the seventh cemented the Earlham lead after defensive errors from the Comets. After the inning, the Quakers took the opportunity to rotate players into the lineup to gain valuable experience in the season-opener.
GAME TWO: Earlham: 9 Olivet: 4
Easton Embry and McCabe both recorded two hits in the second matchup of the evening.
Aidan Talarek began the contest on the mound and stayed in until the sixth inning. Talarek recorded six strikeouts and allowed only six hits from 24 batters faced.
After a blank opening two innings, the Comets plated two runs in the top of the third inning.
In the bottom of the third,
Phoenix Guzzi knocked a triple into right-center field which brought
Nathan Lancianese home for the first Quaker score of the game.
McCabe added a run in the fourth inning to tie the game after the Comets tried to catch Kuderer on a steal at second base. Kuderer then found his way to home plate with help from a Basley single.
The Quakers plated one run in the bottom of the fifth before allowing two Olivet scores in the top of the sixth.
With the game tied at 4 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Medley subbed into the game on offense and drove in a score with a single to left field.
Olivet walked in two Earlham runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the Quakers ended the eighth with two unearned runs.
Chance Strickley faced three batters as the closer for Earlham as the Quakers secured a sweep of the afternoon.
Earlham will square off with Olivet again on Sunday to complete the weekend series.
