BLUFFTON, Ohio – The Earlham College baseball team swept Bluffton University in HCAC action on Friday afternoon.
GAME ONE: EARLHAM 11 BLUFFTON 7
Kyle Jeffries threw the opening 4.2 innings with three earned runs on eight hits.
Hayden Scalf then tallied three innings with five strikeouts and four earned runs.
Garret Odey earned the win with a scoreless 1.1 innings with two hits and two strikeouts.
Jackson McFarland led the Quaker offense, batting 3-6 with five RBI, a home run and one run scored.
Noah Wagster went 3-5 with two steals.
Austin Dick scored two runs, and swiped three bases after reaching base three times.
After a scoreless two innings, Earlham opened the game with three runs on two hits in the top of the third inning. Dick led off the frame with a walk, and stole second base before scoring on a single by
Chris Barnett. McFarland then hit a two-run home run to right-center field for a 3-0 lead.
Jonathan Jimenez led off the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run. Bluffton then scored one run on three hits in the bottom of the inning.
After a
Noah Rosato RBI double in the top of the fifth inning, the Beavers scored two runs on three hits to trail 5-3.
Barnett reached as the first baserunner of the sixth inning, and came around to score on a double to left field by
Sean Jeffries. Jeffries then came home on an RBI-single by McFarland.
Bluffton tied the game in the eighth inning with four runs on five hits.
In the top of the ninth, Earlham plated four runs on two hits and five free bases.
GAME TWO: EARLHAM 10 BLUFFTON 3
Casey Blevins earned the win in game two with six innings pitched, two earned runs and three strikeouts.
Braeden Lewis allowed one hit with two strikeouts in the seventh, and
Lane Willoughby tossed two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
Noah Wagster went 4-5 with three steals, two RBI and one run scored. Barnett went 3-3 with two runs, one RBI and a double.
Dylan Rieck hit a two-out triple in the top of the second inning, and scored after a single by Wagster to left field.
Leading 1-0, Earlham plated two runs in the top of the third after a leadoff walk and three errors by the Beavers.
Earlham scored five runs on five hits in the top of the fifth inning.
Mitchell Roether led off the frame with a single, and Rieck earned an RBI on a double down the left field line. Wagster then hit an RBI-single, and
Austin Dick earned an RBI on a groundout. Barnett doubled to left field to bring in another run, and McFarland tallied the last RBI of the inning with a single to right field.
The Beavers plated two runs on two hits in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Dick capped off the top of the eighth inning with a two-run two-out single with the bases loaded for a 10-2 Quaker lead.
The Beavers scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Quakers take on Bluffton in the series finale tomorrow at 11 am.
