Jacket Baseball takes first game from Grizzlies

DEFIANCE, Ohio—The Defiance College baseball team downed the Franklin College Grizzlies on Friday afternoon, 6-5, at Rutter Field.

The winning run came in the bottom of the ninth inning on a shot by Eric Tipton to first base that was booted by the Grizzlies’ defender. Russ Lupica went all nine innings for Defiance, striking out seven batters, while allowing five earned runs on 12 hits. Jeremy Vance was 3-for-5 at the plate for DC with a run, while Jeremy Hawkins was 2-for-5 with a run.

David Jackson went 2-for-3 on the day and R.J. Chidester was 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Nathan Roberts led FC offensively, going 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.

Franklin took the first lead of the game with three runs in the second inning. The Grizzlies added another run in the top of the sixth, but a five-run sixth inning for Defiance gave the hosts the lead, while each team added a run in the final inning.

The Jackets are now 13-20 on the year and 5-11 in the Heartland Conference. Franklin is 8-15 overall and 6-10 in the conference.

The two teams will meet in a doubleheader tomorrow starting at noon at Rutter Field.