Box Score Lexington, Ky. – For the second straight day, the Transylvania baseball team unfurled an offensive masterpiece, defeating the Earlham College Quakers, 12-4 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament on Friday afternoon at Kentucky Proud Park.
The Pioneers scored multiple runs in four of the first five innings of the day for an insurmountable lead to remain undefeated on the winners' bracket and advance into Saturday afternoon's HCAC Championship game at 2:00 p.m.
Transylvania moved to 30-10 overall, achieving its first 30-win season of the Zack Getsee era and its first 30-win ledger since the 2008 season.
Earlham fell to 24-19 and dropped into the losers' bracket. The Quakers will attempt to keep their tournament hopes alive in a Saturday 10:30 a.m. game against the winner of Friday night's elimination game between Bluffton and Anderson.
Several Pioneers brought the hammer on Friday with Wade Lopiccolo, Hudson Chastain, Riley Willbur, and Trent Pahl each smacking three hits apiece. Transylvania outhit the Quakers, 19-9 in Friday's pivotal victory to move to 2-0 in the second leg of the HCAC Tournament.
Coming off matching a season-high 20 runs the night before in a comprehensive win against Bluffton, the Pioneers sparked their offense in the top of the first inning as Willbur found his first hit of the afternoon, scoring Trent Youngblood for a 1-0 lead. Michael Blair and Nick Wade each followed with RBI hits to build the Pioneers' advantage to 3-0 in the first inning.
Earlham punched back with two runs in the bottom of the first to slice its deficit to one run, but starter Collin Johnson held the Quakers scoreless over the next four innings while Transylvania heated up at the plate.
In the third inning, Lopiccolo and Chastain each led off with base hits and Willbur drew a walk to immediately load the bases. Blair obliged with a sacrifice fly RBI to stretch the lead back to two runs. Wade reached first on a hit by pitch, and Walter Munday did sufficient damage, powering a three-run double to deep left field to put the Pioneers in the driver's seat at 7-2.
Willbur scored Lopiccolo and Chastain in the fourth on a double to right center to put the Pioneers ahead, 9-2. Pahl and Youngblood provided back to back RBI singles in the fifth inning as Transylvania marched forward to the tune of 11-2. Pahl made his mark once more in the eighth inning on an infield single to score Munday for Transy's final run.
Johnson earned his third win of the season in his first start of the season, striking out one while scattering five hits over the five innings. Carter Atkinson worked three innings, striking out three and yielding no earned runs. Evan Burnett took the baton to the finish line with a spotless ninth inning as he notched a strikeout.
Chastain's three hits further augmented his Pioneer program record for single-season hits to 74 total while Youngblood's two hits increased his season total to 68, making the freshman only the second Pioneer ever besides Chastain to reach that mark.
The Pioneers now look ahead to a 2:00 p.m. championship game on Saturday; as the lone remaining team in the winners' bracket, the Pioneers will have two opportunities to win the HCAC Championship. Transylvania is in pursuit of its first HCAC Tournament Championship since 2008.
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