DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Franklin College baseball team put a three-game winning streak on the line on Sunday (Apr. 11) afternoon when they headed east for a pair of scheduled games with the Defiance Yellow Jackets.

The Grizzlies (13-5) and Yellow Jackets (5-18) endured three rain delays and extra innings with Franklin coming away with a 7-6 win in 10 innings. Staring at a late start with darkness disappearing, game two was canceled and will not be made up.

Offense was scarce through the first six innings of play as Franklin's Nick Elmendorf and Defiance's Cohen Nies kept batters in check. The Grizzlies scratched across the game's first run in the top of the third when a two-out single from Nick Wright brought Colby Reed home. Defiance answered with a run of their own in the third and another in the fifth and held a 2-1 lead with nine outs to go.

When the bullpens took over, the offenses came to life and Franklin re-claimed the lead with a two-run single from Logan Demkovich in the top of the seventh. Defiance knotted things up in their half of the inning but Franklin would brought in two runs in the eighth on two-out RBI hits from Reed and Ryan Bixler to take a 5-3 lead.

The lead was short-lived as Defiance plated three runs in their half of the eighth inning and following rain delay number two, Franklin was down to their final two outs in the ninth. A one-out single from Jacob Heuchan turned into the tying run when punch runner Case Starkey raced home from first on Tysen Lipscomb's double, evening things up and sending the game to extras.

Rain intervened again in the top of the 10th, but once play resumed, a lead-off double from Ryan Bixler and Nick Wright single put the Grizzlies in front for good. The bottom of the inning wasn't without its drama, as Defiance put the tying run on third with no outs. But senior Alex Reinoehl worked out of the jam, retiring the next three hitters to give Franklin the win.

Elmendorf lasted five innings as the starter, allowing one earned run on three hits with six strikeouts. Reinoehl (4-1) earned his second win in as many days, allowing one hit over 2 1/3 innings of work. Bixler, Wright and Demkovich all had two hits from the 1-3 spots in the lineup and accounted for five of the team's seven runs knocked in.

Franklin is off for six days before hosting Rose-Hulman on Saturday, Apr. 17 at John P. McDowell Field. First pitch is set for noon.