Box Score
The Mount St. Joseph University baseball team tied the game at eight-all in the ninth inning on Saturday afternoon, thanks to a two-run double by Ronald Cotton (Florence, KY/Boone County), but saw the Yellow Jackets bounce back in the bottom of the frame to score the winning run in a 9-8 Defiance win. The Mount, 6-8 overall, 1-4 in the HCAC, and the Yellow Jackets are schedule to complete their three-game series on March 29 with a doubleheader match-up.
Defiance raced out to a 5-1 lead after their first at-bat in the game, against Mount starter Brandon Polking (Cincinnati, OH/St. Xavier). They increased their lead to 6-1 the next inning and led 8-4 after four innings of action. The Lions cut the deficit to 8-6 in the fifth inning, on an RBI each by Zach Farmer (Hamilton, OH/Lakota West) and Nick Browning (Fairfield, OH/Hamilton Badin).
That score would remain until the ninth, when Cotton, who ha d three hits in the game, ripped a two-out double to left field, scoring Drew Werner (Sunman, IN/WEast Central) and Casey Wagner (West Harrison, IN/Franklin County), to tie the score at eight.
Defiance, however, would claim the first game of the weekend series in the bottom of the ninth, when after one out, the Yellow Jackets produced a triple to deep center field and a run-scoring single through the left side of the Lions' infield. Rick Paulinelli (Harrison, OH/Harrison) was tagged with the loss, dropping to 1-1 on the season.
Farmer and Werner each contributed three hits, while Werned added three runs scored and Cotton had three RBI in the game. The Mount held a 13-12 advantage in hits. The Lions were five-for-15 with runners in scoring position, while Defiance was six-for-11 in that stat category.
