SATURDAY RECAP
Game 1 box score: Hillsdale 20, Wayne State 10
Game 2 box score: Wayne State 15, Hillsdale 6
Saturday's GLIAC baseball doubleheader between Hillsdale and Wayne State featured 51 total runs, 60 hits and took 7 hours and 40 minutes to play. And in the end, both teams walked away with an equal number of wins and losses in their weekend series.
The Chargers won a 20-10 slugfest in Saturday's opener, a win that featured a 10-run seventh inning by Hillsdale. The Warriors gained revenge with a 15-6 victory in the nightcap.
Hillsdale is now 14-8 overall and 2-2 in conference play, while Wayne State, also 2-2 in the GLIAC, is 9-9 on the season.
In Saturday's opener, there were five different innings in which a team scored two or more runs. None were more extreme than Hillsdale's 10-spot in the top of the seventh, expanding a 10-6 lead to 20-6. Turns out, it was a good thing the Chargers pushed that many across, since Wayne State tightened the final score with four runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Six different Chargers had multi-hit games in the win, led by Connor Bartlett's 4-for-5 performance. He scored twice, drove in two, and hit his fourth home run of the season. Senior Chris McDonald hammered two doubles, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBI. Junior Ethan Wiskur was 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI, while senior Luke Ortel scored three times and was 2-for-4.
Catcher Joe Gentile added a double as part of his 2-for-4 game, and senior Tad Sobieszczanski crushed a three-run home run and was 2-for-5 with 2 runs scored.
Starting pitcher Phil Carey got the win, improving to 2-1 on the season. Freshman Cam Maxwell came off the bench to go 1-for-2 with a run scored and his first two runs batted in of his career.
In game 2, Hillsdale held a 5-2 lead after scoring twice in the top of the fifth inning. But the bottom fell out for the Chargers from there, as Wayne State scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth, then added four more in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
Ortel, now second in program history in total career hits, was 2-for-5 in the game 2 loss. Bartlett was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, while Sobieszczanski notched another two-hit game. Chris Ackerman had his first career multi-RBI game for the Chargers.
UP NEXT: The Chargers head to Ohio for a four-game series with Tiffin next weekend
FRIDAY RECAP
Game 1 box score: Hillsdale 5, Wayne State 4
Game 2 box score: Wayne State 10, Hillsdale 1
The Hillsdale College baseball team split its first conference games of the 2016 season Friday afternoon, winning game 1 against Wayne State in Detroit before falling in the late innings of game 2.
The Chargers are 13-7 overall and 1-1 in the GLIAC and continue their four-game weekend series with the Warriors starting at noon Saturday.
In the top of the sixth inning of game 1, sophomore Alex Walts came through in the clutch, slicing a one-out single through the right side, scoring Tad Sobieszczanski with what would end up being the game-winning run. Sobieszczanski opened the deciding inning with a double, and advanced to third on a passed ball, allowing Walts to record the game-winning RBI.
Senior closer Chris McDonald picked up his school-record ninth save of the season, allowing the Warriors just one baserunner in the seventh inning. McDonald's nine saves are two more than the old school record, and it took him just 19 team games – all coming well before April 1 – to do it.
In the opener, senior Luke Ortel continued his red-hot hitting with two singles, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Walts had a team-high 2 RBI, while Sobieszczanski scored twice. Senior Michael O'Sullivan had a double and scored a run.
Senior pitcher Evan Chalker has emerged into one of the team's most effective relief pitchers, and picked up the win with 1 1/3 innings of relief work. Starter Jacob Gardner went 3 2/3 innings and fanned four to just one walk, ultimately getting a no-decision.
Game 2 was a much closer contest than the final score indicated. Wayne State held a 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning when the Chargers put runners on first and third with nobody out. But the Warriors were able to wiggle out of the jam, and came out in the bottom of the eighth and scored eight runs to leave no doubt in the game's outcome.
McDonald had two of the team's four hits in game 2 while O'Sullivan scored the team's only run.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Klopfer