RICHMOND, Ind. — The Earlham College baseball team split a doubleheader with Anderson University on Sunday afternoon in Randal R. Sadler Stadium.

The Quakers took the first game 5-3 before falling 12-2 in the second and final contest of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference series.

At 11-3 overall, the Quakers have their best record to start a season in the NCAA era after 14 games. They are 1-2 in the conference.

In the opener, Earlham rallied with a pair of runs in the seventh to go on top for good on a double by Brennan Laird. Devin Spurgon added to the lead with a run-scoring double in the eighth for the last tally of the contest.

Matt Brankle closed the door on the Ravens (9-4, 2-1) with a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the season and sixth of his career.

Howie Smith started on the mound for the Quakers and went five innings. He gave up three runs on four hits with four strikeouts.

John Cornett (1-0) tossed the next three innings and surrendered just one hit with four strikeouts to pick up the victory.

Nate Lynch drove in the first run for the Quakers with a double in the third inning.

After falling behind 3-1 in the top of the sixth, the Quakers cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame on a RBI single by Brandon Smalling that set the stage for what turned the game-winning rally one inning later.

Laird finished with three hits, while Lynch and Spurgon added two each.
 
Earlham's defense hurt the cause in the second game as the Ravens scored five unearned runs.

Anderson scored in the first and the Quakers responded to tie it at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning as Josh Parr knocked in a run on a fielder's choice.

From that point, the Ravens built a 6-1 advantage with three unearned runs in the third and two more unearned in the fifth. They picked up a couple of more runs in the sixth and another in the seventh.

Laird, who led the Quakers with two hits in the second game, added a run-scoring single in the seventh for the Quakers. Anderson finished the day with three runs in the eighth.

Earlham starter Kyle Agius (0-1), who left with two out in the third inning, got the loss after giving up four runs (one earned) on two hits.  

The Quakers travel to Cincinnati on Tuesday to face Mount St. Joseph University for their first road game of the season. The HCAC affair at Xavier University gets underway at 4 p.m.