DC Blanks Manchester for Second-Straight Home Shutout

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance got a crisp outing from Brad Timofeev on the mound and extended its Rutter Field opponents' scoreless inning streak to 21-consecutive innings with a 2-0 win over Manchester on Wednesday afternoon. The victory was DC's second-straight shutout on its home turf. 

The game's only scoring came in the bottom half of the sixth inning and started with a one-out single from Mike Dushane. Braden Brugler bunted Dushane into scoring position, before DC's leadoff man swiped third base and scored on a MC error. 

The fielding miscue proved costly, as Tim Pitro and Keith Wade followed it up with two-out singles to score Kirk Jesse and give Defiance the 2-0 lead through six innings. 

Timofeev leaned on his defense to help keep the Spartans at bay over the final three innings, as Casey Kahsen erased a runner on the bases in the seventh and Brugler stranded a pair of runners in the eighth with a running catch into the right-center field gap to end the threat. 

The senior hurler then finished off the complete game shutout by retiring the Manchester lineup in order in the ninth inning to secure his second victory of the season. Timofeev threw 122 pitches in the nine scoreless frames and allowed only eight hits and two walks. 

Dushane ignited the offense with two hits and the eventual game-winning run, while Kirk Jesse went 1-4 with a run and Wade went 1-3 with DC's only RBI. 

Defiance (7-28, 3-16 HCAC) will close out its season this weekend at Rose-Hulman (25-11, 13-6 HCAC). The teams will play a single game on Friday at 6:00 pm, before playing a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon.