FORT MYERS, Fla. – Defiance College got its first taste of action in the 2011 campaign on Monday with a pair of games in the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida. The Jackets fell, 18-8, to Monmouth in the season opener, before suffering a 13-1 setback to Thiel in the afternoon contest.

The bats wasted no time getting started for either team in the opener, as Monmouth (2-1) put three runs on the board in the top of the first and Defiance countered with a pair in its first frame. The Fighting Scots would add four more in the second and went on to take the 18-8 victory.

David Riley and Jonathan Murphy each had two hits for the Jackets, while Dan Samuels laced a two-run triple to fuel the offense. Andy Habecker opened his sophomore season by hurling 3.1 innings of relief work.

Things did not get any better in the second game, as Thiel (2-1) put 13 runs on the board to secure the 13-1 victory over Defiance. The score was 3-1 in the fifth, before Thiel plated 10 runs in the next four innings to break the game open.

Stephen Leskow (0-1) took the loss for Defiance, allowing five earned runs in his five innings. The sophomore hurler rebounded from a tough opening inning to blank TC over the next three.

DC plated its lone run of the afternoon in the fourth, as Aaron Helland drew a walk and scored two batters later on a single off the bat of Nick Welling.

Defiance (0-2) will return to action on Thursday morning, when it is set to play Elms (3-2) at 10:00 am in Fort Myers, Florida.