RICHMOND, Indiana - The Earlham College baseball team moved into first place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) on Saturday, defeating Transylvania University 11-7 to complete the three-game sweep at Randal R. Sadler Stadium.

"This senior class is special," head coach Steve Sakosits said. "It's going to be excited to see what they do in the world after graduation, but before we get to that part, they have a lot more baseball left to play."

After a scoreless first inning from both teams, the Pioneers struck for four runs on five hits and two walks in the second inning. Junior Matt Mathies relieved freshman Jordan Christian and got the Quakers out of the second and retired Transylvania in order in the third.

Earlham's offense awoke in the bottom of the fourth as the Quakers scored four runs on four hits including triples from senior Nate Lynch and freshman Isaiah Shake to tie the game 4-4.

Transylvania got runners on in both the fifth and sixth innings, but failed to score, and Earlham made the Pioneers pay as freshman Danny Dopp singled home senior Cody Krumlauf in the sixth. Leading 5-4, freshman Kendal Baker delivered a two-RBI single scoring Shake and Dopp later in the inning, stretching the hosts lead to three.

The Pioneers got within a single run scoring two unearned runs in the seventh, but the Quakers put the game out of reach with three runs on three hits in the bottom half of the inning.

Mathies improved to 4-4 on the year, allowing just two hits in 4.1 innings of work. Daniel Seitzinger took the loss for Transylvania, allowing four earned runs in three innings pitched.

Earlham had 15 hits as a team including three from both Shake and Baker. Shake came a home run short of the cycle for the second consecutive game while Baker from in four runs.

Isaac Taylor and Connor Blevins each had three hits for the Pioneers.

"It feels great to be in first place in the conference," said Sakosits. "We struggled early in the conference season against some good team, but getting consecutive sweeps is big for our team."

The Quakers improve to 22-12 overall and 17-6 in the HCAC with the series sweep. Earlham faces Mount St. Joseph University on Tuesday before closing out its regular season with a three-game series against Hanover College. All four games are at Sadler Stadium.