RICHMOND, Ind. – The Earlham College baseball team split a doubleheader on Saturday to begin the weekend series against Franklin in Sadler Stadium.
GAME ONE: EARLHAM 6 FRANKLIN 5
Kyle Jeffries threw 5.1 innings with four hits and one earned run.
Braeden Lewis scored his first win of the season with 2.2 innings, no earned runs and two strikeouts.
Garret Odey earned the save with two hits in a one-run ninth inning.
Sean Jeffries led the Quakers at the plate, going 3-3 with a double, two RBI, two steals and one run scored.
Reece Zonts hit a double, and brought in two RBI while scoring two runs.
Franklin scored the first run of the game on a Quaker throwing error in the top of the third inning. The Grizzlies scored another run on one hit in the top of the fourth, and one run on a throwing error in the fifth inning.
Mac Moore put the Quakers on the board with an RBI in the bottom of the fifth inning, and Jeffries hit an RBI-single in the bottom of the sixth.
Trailing 4-2,
Jonathan Jimenez hit a one-out single to be the first Quaker aboard in the bottom of the seventh inning. After a walk by Zonts,
Noah Wagster hit an RBI-single to center, and Jeffries earned a bases-loaded walk for Earlham to tie the game at 4-4.
The Quakers scored two runs on two hits and two Franklin errors in the bottom of the eighth inning, with a two-run double to left field by Zonts with one out in the inning.
GAME TWO: EARLHAM 4 FRANKLIN 6
Casey Blevins was charged with his first loss of the season after throwing four innings with eight hits and four earned runs.
Christopher Snider threw two scoreless innings with one hit allowed.
Dylan Rieck went 2-4 in game two with one RBI and a double. Jimenez also scored two hits with a double, and one run scored.
With two runners on and two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Rieck delivered an RBI double down the left field line to put the Quakers up 1-0.
Franklin scored first on a solo homer in the top of the fourth inning, and earned three more runs on a bases-clearing double later in the inning.
Wagster reached as the leadoff batter in the bottom of the sixth inning, and reached third on a throwing error while stealing second.
Mitchell Roether then brought the run home with an RBI-groundout to make up some ground to the Grizzlies.
Franklin added a run after an error in the seventh inning to lead 5-2.
The Quakers scored one run on one hit, one error and two walks in the bottom of the seventh inning, sending seven batters to the plate in the frame.
Another unearned run came across for Franklin in the top of the eighth, and the Quakers scored their final run on a ground ball by Roether with the bases loaded.
Earlham hosts the Grizzlies for a rubber match tomorrow at noon in Sadler Stadium.
