HANOVER, IND. – Senior catcher Elliott Ford (Rome City, Ind.) led a quartet of Manchester University batters with multiple-hit efforts Friday, April 15.

Ford ended the late afternoon/early evening at Hanover College's K.Y. Young Ballpark with three hits, all singles, and scored a run to top a Spartans' offense that finished with 12 hits in a 7-5 victory. Sophomore center fielder Eric Knepper (Bremen, Ind.), freshman right fielder Tyler La Follette (Warsaw, Ind.), and sophomore third baseman Hunter Lane (Nappanee, Ind.) added two hits each with La Follette and Lane each doubling, and La Follette driving in two runs.

The host Panthers (5-21 overall, 2-12 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference) held a 1-0 lead through four frames with starting pitcher Nick Brunner holding the visitors to one hit. In the fifth, MU (15-11 overall, 9-4 HCAC) kicked off a seven-run rally over the next three at-bats with five hits, including an RBI ground out from junior left fielder Chad Schultz (Fair Oaks, Ind.) and run-scoring safeties by Eric Knepper and senior shortstop Sean Knepper (Bremen, Ind.), and four tallies to take the lead for good. HC did get the potential winning score to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after posting a pair of two-run frames in their final two attempts but couldn't get any closer.

MU, winners of three straight and five of their last seven, resume the weekend set against Hanover Saturday, April 16, with a 12 p.m. doubleheader.

NOTES: Knepper's double helped move his on-base streak to 33 straight … Junior first baseman Tailur Szarenski (Bluffton, Ind.) upped his hit streak to 11 consecutive contests … Manchester University kept itself third on the loop standings, just a half-game behind Earlham College for second and only a game in the loss column in back of first-place Rose-Hulman.