FLORENCE, Ky. – The Defiance College baseball team topped Calvin, 6-5 and 7-5, on Friday afternoon to start the 2013 campaign on a strong note. The Jackets earned a thrilling walk-off victory in the opener, before leading throughout the nightcap of the doubleheader sweep over the Knights.
DC took the first game by rallying for five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for the 6-5 triumph against Calvin. Chris Donese started the frame with a one-out walk, before singles from Brad Kremer and Darin Waterman loaded the bases. Any Habecker then singled home a pair, before the Jackets loaded the bases once again with a Joel Musser walk.
Defiance then drew to within a single score when Waterman came home on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly off the bat of Ryan Kohlhofer. A walk to Ben Weber would load the bases for Ian Burkhart, who delivered the final blow with a pinch-hit, walk-off double that gave the Jackets the 6-5 win.
Waterman paced the offense with three hits in the first game, while Habecker had two hits to go with a pair of runs batted in and Musser singled and doubled in the victory.
Aaron Patterson (1-0) entered in relief of Waterman on the mound, holding Calvin scoreless over 3.1 innings of work and retiring four Knights on strikes to earn the win.
DC's bats stayed hot in the second game of the afternoon, striking for four runs in the top half of the third inning and tacking on single tallies in the fourth, fifth and seventh frames. Gary Levengood highlighted the attack in the nightcap with RBI knocks in the fifth and seventh innings, while Donese and Weber also swatted a pair of hits.
Jake Taylor (1-0) earned the win in his first start of the year, holding the Knights to three earned runs over five innings, while Habecker tossed a perfect sixth for his first hold and Alex Schomaeker worked the seventh for his first save.
Defiance (2-0) will go for the series sweep over Calvin, when the two teams play a nine-inning game at 10:00 am on Saturday. The series is being played at a neutral site in Florence, Kentucky.