Lions Complete Sweep of DC on the Diamond

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance could not slow down a hard-hitting attack from Mount St. Joseph and several costly defensive mistakes further fueled the Lions, as they won 10-4 and 16-10 to sweep the three-game series at Rutter Field. 

MSJ would never trail over the 18 innings of action on Saturday, scoring four times in the top of the first inning in the opener and not slowing down from there. The Mount would go on to score 10 times on 16 hits in the first game to top the Jackets by a 10-4 count. 

Brad Timofeev (1-6) pitched well in the loss but could not overcome a poor defensive effort behind him by the Jackets. The senior took the loss after allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings. Only three of the seven runs credited to Timofeev were earned. 

The middle of the DC order did most of the damage for the Purple and Gold, as Kirk Jesse, Tim Pitro and Keith Wade each went 2-4 at the plate and combined for three runs and four runs batted in. One of Pitro's hits cleared the fence for his third home run of the season. 

In the nightcap MSJ scraped out single tallies in the first two innings before exploding for eight runs in the top of the fourth to take a commanding, 10-0, lead. Defiance rallied back for four in the fifth and five more in the sixth, but the Lions added six more runs of their own to secure the 16-10 victory. 

Mount St. Joseph (18-9, 11-4 HCAC) rapped out 16 runs on 17 hits in the final game of the series, while DC countered with 10 runs on 14 hits. Both teams committed two errors in the field. 

Jesse and Pitro continued their hot hitting, as Jesse went 3-6 with two runs and Pitro went 3-3 with three walks, two runs and an RBI. 

Defiance (5-21, 1-9 HCAC) will be in action again on Tuesday, when it plays at Manchester at 4:15 pm.