RICHMOND, Ind. — The Earlham College baseball team is headed into Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play this weekend with a lot of momentum after sweeping a doubleheader from Wilmington College.

Earlham won the first game 8-5 on Wednesday in Sadler Stadium before taking the second contest 17-1 as the Quakers won their eighth straight.

The Quakers are 10-1 as they prepare for Friday's HCAC opener at home against Anderson University at 4 p.m. During the NCAA era, the overall record in tops in school history after 11 games and the winning streak ties last year's squad for the best ever.
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In the first game, Wilmington (3-11) led 3-0 after batting in the fourth inning. Brandon Smalling hit his third homer of the season in the bottom of the fourth to cut into the deficit.

One inning later, Earlham took the lead for good with four runs. Smalling had a two-run single to tie the game before Devin Spurgon put Earlham in front 4-3 with a RBI ground out. Josh Parr finished the rally with a RBI single.

Smalling added another run-scoring single in the sixth. Wilmington bounced back in a pair of runs in the seventh.

In the bottom of the seventh, Eric Elkus blasted a drive to left that cleared the Maroon Monster for his first home run of the season.

Matt Barger knocked in the final Earlham run in the eighth with a double.

Earlham starter Bryce Rainey (2-0) left the game with two outs in the seventh as he picked up the win. He gave up five runs on seven hits with three strikeouts.

John Cornett got the last out of the seventh and then pitched a scoreless eighth. Matt Brankle earned his second save of the season with a perfect ninth.

Thomas Rea and Smalling led Earlham with three hits apiece with Nate Lynch, Barger and Elkus each contributing two hits each.

Earlham started early in the second game with a two-run double by Parr in the first inning.

A five-run third inning for Earlham set the tone for the rest of the way. Parr drove in two more runs with another double. Barger followed with a two-run double and Ethan Bailey knocked in a run with a ground out.

From that point, Earlham scored in every inning as the Quakers added 10 runs.

Parr and Elkus led Earlham with three hits each, while Lynch, Barger, Cody Krumlauf and Tyler Funkhouser all had two hits.

Drew Lively (3-0) started on the mound for Earlham and scattered eight hits allowing a run in the eighth inning. Matt Mathies faced three batters in the ninth.