JASPER, Ind. - The Grace baseball team secured a series win over Defiance by earning a split to finish the four-game set with the Yellow Jackets.

Grace lost Saturday's opener 2-1 but finished off the series with a 9-4 victory. 

In the opening game, Sam Justice was nearly untouchable for the Lancers. The senior hurler struck out two batters in each of the first three innings. He was perfect as the game reached the fifth inning until Defiance finally reached base with a single.

The game was scoreless into the sixth inning. In the top of the sixth, Jose Ayala and Cayden Calloway singled back-to-back. An error on a bunted ball allowed Ayala to scamper home for the go-ahead run.

Justice struck out two more batters in the bottom of the sixth, sending the game to the final stanza.

In the bottom of the seventh, Defiance stormed back. The Yellow Jackets used two walks, a single and a double to score twice for the walk-off win. 

Justice finished his outing with 12 strikeouts while allowing two hits and two runs. 

The Lancers outhit the Yellow Jackets 6-2 with Grant Rojek collecting two hits and Ayala chipping in one hit and one run.

In game two, Grace got on the board in the second inning when Ian Wilson had a solo home run over the left field fence.

Caden Heminger got the start on the mound and struck out four batters through the first two innings before allowing the tying run in the bottom of the third.

Grace responded in the fourth inning with two runs to recapture the lead. Ayala and Calloway both singled their way onto the base paths, and both came around to score when Mayo Fernandez produced a two-run double.

The Yellow Jackets kept the scoring run going with two of their own runs in the home half of the inning. Defiance took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth.

Grace took full advantage of three consecutive errors with one out in the sixth inning to explode for six runs. The late rally put a stranglehold on the game to give the Lancers a five-run lead.

Luke Cherry scored, and Fernandez and Wilson displayed their speed to move into scoring position. Will Ambrose had an RBI single then Darl Gustin broke the game open with a three-run bomb. The finishing touches on the inning came courtesy of Carter Stogsdill with an RBI double.

Once Grace took the lead, Defiance could only muster two base runners over the final two innings. The pitching staff combined for nine strikeouts in the game with Tyler Sarver picking up the win. 

Stogsdill posted a two-hit game with one RBI. Gustin added 3 RBIs, 1 run and 1 hit. Wilson and Fernandez both had multi-RBI games.

Grace will return to Jasper for a four-game set against IU South Bend on Feb. 20-21.