N. MANCHESTER, Ind. – Defiance College opened Tuesday's game at Manchester with five-straight hits and eventually built a 7-0 lead, en route to holding off the Spartans in a dramatic, 10-9, victory. The win gave DC two in a row over potential HCAC Tournament squads and moved the Jackets to 3-2 in their last five league contests.
The top of the order did damage for Defiance throughout the game and ended the contest with seven runs, 12 hits and nine runs batted in from the top five spots in the lineup. The Jackets ended the game with 10 runs on 13 hits as a team to set season highs for hits and runs scored against HCAC competition.
Darin Waterman led the attack by belting a home run and two doubles, while scoring three times and driving home three and Brad Kremer also homered to highlight a busy day at the plate with two hits, three RBI and a run scored. Chris Donese and Bryn Lehman set the table for Waterman and Kremer all afternoon, by combining for five hits, and Patrick Masopust added a critical run-scoring single off the bench.
The Jackets jumped to an early lead on the Spartans with the first-inning rally and tacked on another run in the second for a 3-0 cushion. DC was just getting started however, as a four-run outburst in the fourth pushed the spread to 7-0 in favor of the Purple and Gold.
Dave Riley opened the rally with a one-out walk, before scoring on a double off the bat of Jonathan Murphy. Lehman then delivered a two-out single to plate Murphy, before Waterman cleared the fences to give DC the seven-run advantage.
Manchester stormed back, erasing most of the DC lead with five runs in the bottom of the fourth and drew to within a single run by scoring a single tally in the fifth.
Defiance would answer in the top of the seventh, with back-to-back doubles from Lehman and Waterman to open the frame. Masopust then delivered a single up the middle to push Waterman home for a 9-6 lead.
DC maintained a three-run lead into the ninth, before Brad Kremer swatted a solo home run with one out to give the Jackets a four-run edge heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Kremer's homer proved to be the difference, as Manchester scored three times in the inning before the final out was recorded in the 10-9 Yellow Jacket victory.
Alex Schomaeker delivered his fifth save of the season by entering the game in the ninth, after MC had already scored one run and loaded the bases with nobody out. DC's closer retired three of the four batters he faced to end the threat and seal the win for Defiance.
Schomaeker followed a clutch showing from Andy Habecker out of the DC bullpen, as Habecker entered to end a sixth-inning jam and silenced the Spartan bats through the seventh and eighth innings, before getting into trouble in the ninth.
Stephen Leskow (2-5) started the game for the Jackets and picked up his second win of the season, by holding Manchester to two earned runs over five innings.
Defiance (11-20, 4-13 HCAC) will face Ohio Northern (12-19, 5-8 OAC) on Wednesday in a non-conference showdown in Ada, Ohio. First pitch is set for 4:00 pm.