HANOVER – The Earlham College baseball team split a doubleheader at Hanover College on Sunday afternoon. The Quakers remain at the top of the HCAC standings, but with company. Earlham, Anderson, and Franklin are all tied at 5-1 in conference play.
The Quakers fell to 16-6 on the season while the Panthers ended the day at 9-14.
GAME ONE: EARLHAM 1 HANOVER 3
Justin Dillhoff pitched a complete game with eight innings tossed for his first recorded loss of the season. Dillhoff allowed 10 hits from the Panthers and threw six strikeouts with no walks and no HBP.
Nathan Lancianese and
Cameron McCabe both recorded two hits on the afternoon while
Jeordon Kuderer brought home the sole Quaker run with a single to left field in the top of the ninth inning.
Two of the Hanover runs came in the bottom of the first inning when a single to center field brought two baserunners home. The third run came in the second inning off of a sac fly to center field.
The Quakers had two runners on base with only one out in the top of the seventh inning, but a pop-up from
Zach Swearingen and a strikeout from
Christian Lancianese ended the inning after a pitching change for Hanover.
GAME TWO: EARLHAM 7 HANOVER 3
Aidan Talarek started game two and earned the winning decision after tossing 5 ? innings and allowing three runs. Talarek scored five strikeouts and allowed seven hits.
Nick Carrizales threw two innings in relief and recorded one strikeout on one hit.
Andrew Bradley scored three RBI with his ninth home run of the season in the top of the fourth inning.
Michael Medley had a solid day at the plate with two hits and one RBI.
Christian Lancianese got on base to start the game and stole his way around to third base, where McCabe was able to bring him home with a single to right field.
McCabe scored a second RBI in the top of the third inning with a groundout to second base that brought
Maxwell Fries home. On the next play,
Devin Basley hit a single to left field which brought Bradley home.
With the Lancianese brothers on first and third, Bradley hit a deep shot to right field in the top of the fourth inning for three runs to put Earlham ahead 6-0.
Hanover earned its way onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning with a sac fly to center field. The Panthers added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth with a two-RBI single to left field.
Earlham closed out the scoring when Medley hit an RBI single to center field in the top of the ninth inning.
The Quakers continue HCAC play on Tuesday against Transylvania University in Sadler Stadium. The Pioneers were tabbed to win the conference in the preseason poll, but have started off the conference slate 3-2.
