KOKOMO, Ind. — Connor Clemens' first career three-hit game buoyed the Goshen College baseball team to a 7-5 win over Bethel College on Friday afternoon in a Crossroads League contest at Kokomo Municipal Stadium.

Goshen (15-14-1, 5-5) rapped 14 hits in the nine-inning affair, its most in a contest of that length all season. The top eight batters in the Maple Leaf lineup all posted at least one hit, with five posting two or more.

Bethel (13-7, 4-6), which remained the visiting team despite the game shifting away from the GC campus due to rain late in the week, took an early 3-0 lead after half an inning despite hitting the ball out of the infield only twice. 

The hosts got a run back when Ryan Hartig's two-out single knocked in Vincent Caschera, then took the lead for good when the first six batters of the third inning produced five hits and a sacrifice bunt. Kokomo product Colby Malson tied the score with a two-run triple that landed between two outfielders; he would come home on a Clemens double one pitch later to put his team up 4-3.

After making it through the first inning, Goshen starter Michael Walker scattered two hits over the next five innings while striking out four batters. After using 28 tosses to finish the first inning, Walker needed 62 pitches to record the next 15 outs and raise his record to 4-0.

Walker may not have needed the help, but his team found three more tallies in the sixth inning. Hartig led off with a double to right that ended with him on third after a fielding error. After a groundout, Colby Malson reached on a walk before Clemens knocked both runners in with a triple into the right-field corner. Preston Carr singled two batters later to stretch the lead to 7-3.

Bethel got two runs back in the eighth against the GC bullpen, loading the bases with no outs on two hits and a walk. Cam Gallaway singled to knock in the runners, but he was retired three pitches later as Spenser Triplett recording the first two outs of a five-out save on the same pitch.

The Pilots rapped nine singles and a double over the course of the two-hour, 42-minute game, getting hits from six different players. Heath Brooksher led the team with three total bases but was left on second as the tying run when the game ended.

Josh King threw seven innings for Bethel, giving up all 14 hits. Justin Rasmussen pitched a perfect eighth in relief.

Goshen and Bethel meet again Saturday for games two and three of the series: the doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. at Goshen's J. Harold "Sarge" Yoder Field.