NORTH MANCHESTER – The Earlham College baseball team split a doubleheader with Manchester University on Saturday afternoon in the regular season conclusion.
The Quakers finish at 23-11 (12-6 HCAC) while the Spartans conclude the season at 10-27 (6-12 HCAC).
GAME ONE EARLHAM 1 MANCHESTER 3
Aidan Talarek pitched a complete eight innings in the loss of game one. Talarek surrendered eight hits for just one earned run in the outing and struck out five batters.
Cameron McCabe recorded two hits in game one and an RBI single in the top of the ninth inning.
The Spartans scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning from an outfield single, and brought in an unearned run in the sixth.
GAME TWO: EARLHAM 12 MANCHESTER 3
Andrew Bradley turned in four hits in game two with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to cap the evening off for the Quakers.
Maxwell Fries tallied two hits and three RBI.
Nate Hemmerich started on the mound and pitched 3.2 innings with one earned run and five strikeouts.
Jacob Renner tossed 5.1 innings in relief and earned the winning decision with two hits allowed and six strikeouts.
Christian Lancianese scored the first run of the game in the opening frame by taking advantage of an error by the Spartans. The home squad responded with an unearned run in the bottom of the inning.
Fries recorded an RBI in the third inning from a HBP with the bases loaded to give the lead back to Earlham. The Quakers continued with an RBI groundout from McCabe to bring Bradley to home plate.
Once again, the Spartans tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning off of a pair of runs.
The Quakers worked the bases full in the top of the seventh inning with no outs. The first run of the inning came by way of a walk from McCabe. Then,
Devin Basley hit a two-run single down the right field line.
With runners on second and third in the top of the eight inning with two outs, Fries hit a double to right field to clear the runners and bring the Quaker lead to 8-3.
Christian Lancianese came to bat in the ninth inning with runners on first and second base. The sophomore put the ball in play to left field to advance the runners and score one run. On the next play,
Nathan Lancianese followed suit with an RBI single to left field. Bradley cleared the bases for a final time in the regular season with a fence shot to left center field for a two-RBI homer.
The Quakers will advance into the HCAC tournament next weekend in Kokomo. Earlham has locked itself into the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will play at 3:30 on Thursday againt the third seed. An Anderson sweep of Transylvania tomorrow would send the Ravens to compete with Ealrham in Kokomo. An Anderson loss will pit the Quakers against Rose-Hulman in the opening round. Franklin College has won the regular season championship and will havethe top seed heading into the tournament.
