Game 1 box score: Hillsdale 5, Saginaw Valley State 4
Game 2 box score: Hillsdale 12, Saginaw Valley State 5
The Charger baseball team completed its first home four-game weekend series sweep since 2007 Sunday afternoon, defeating Saginaw Valley State by scores of 5-4 and 12-5.
The sweep gives Hillsdale a five-game winning streak and an overall record of 26-14, and 14-8 in the GLIAC.
Like their wins on Saturday, the Chargers won Sunday's first game in dramatic fashion. The two teams played another tight game. They traded two sets two-run innings apiece, and stood tied at 4 entering the sixth.
After freshman pitcher Chris Stewart worked his way through the top of the seventh, completing his third straight scoreless frame, freshman Jacob Hoover led off the seventh inning with a vocal bench cheering him on. Hoover worked a walk, bringing up the hottest hitter on the planet, Luke Ortel.
Ortel had four straight three-hit games over the weekend, and one of those was a walk-off double that scored Hoover to give Hillsdale the 5-4 win in the opener. Ortel was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored, while Chris McDonald and Alex Walts each had multi-hit games for the Chargers.
Game two became considerably less dramatic after Hillsdale sent nine batters to the plate, scoring six times to blow open what was a tenuous 4-2 lead. Tenuous because Hillsdale's pitching staff was stretched so thin that three primarily position players took the mound in the win.
Freshman Cam Maxwell got the start and managed to get into the third inning, yielding two runs and three hits. Coming in for relief was redshirt-freshman Colin Hites, who proceeded to toss five shutout innings, scattering just three hits with two strikeouts, providing invaluable innings while the Charger bats were able to build a sizeable lead.
Senior Michael O'Sullivan made his first appearance of the season, finishing off the game with a two-inning appearance.
Ortel hit a two-run home run and senior Connor Bartlett crushed two home runs to power the Chargers to the win. Ortel had a single, double and a home run, driving in three while Bartlett had 5 RBI, going 3-for-4.
Junior Ethan Wiskur had two doubles, going 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored, while freshman Colin Boerst got the start at third base, scoring twice. McDonald and senior Tad Sobieszczanski each went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
UP NEXT: The Chargers will host Northwood University at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
SATURDAY RECAP
Game 1 box score: Hillsdale 6, Saginaw Valley State 5
Game 2 box score: Hillsdale 9, Saginaw Valley State 8
The knowledge, confidence and ability to win close games are crucial parts of a team's evolution into a winner. Saturday afternoon's games provided a good test of that to the Hillsdale College baseball team.
Consider this part of the test passed.
The Chargers came up with clutch plays at the plate, on the basepaths and in the field in securing a 6-5, 9-8 GLIAC North Division doubleheader sweep of Saginaw Valley State University Saturday at Simpson Field. The wins, huge in the race for a GLIAC Tournament berth, improve Hillsdale to 24-14 overall and 12-8 in the GLIAC.
The two teams resume their four-game weekend series in Hillsdale starting at noon Sunday.
In the opener, the Chargers rallied from a 5-4 deficit in the bottom of the seventh to score two runs to win the game in walk-off fashion.
The incomparable Luke Ortel opened the inning with a double down the left field line, continuing a streak of breaking records unlike any seen in the history of baseball at Hillsdale College. He would score a run on Chris McDonald's sacrifice fly, tying the game at 5 and setting Hillsdale's single-season runs scored record. A double earlier in the game gave Ortel the program's single-season doubles record.
After Ortel's seventh-inning double, senior Tad Sobieszczanski singled, later advancing to second when junior Ethan Wiskur was hit by a pitch. Senior catcher Joe Gentile then sent a sharp grounder to third base with two outs when the throw went over the SVSU first baseman's head, allowing Sobieszczanski, showing baserunning smarts on the play, to score the game-winning run from second.
McDonald's work at the plate helped him get the pitching win on the mound in relief. Sophomore Will Kruse got the start, pitching five innings and allowing no earned runs before giving way to Mitchell Gatt.
Ortel was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored and one batted in to lead the offense. Sophomore Alex Walts was 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored, and McDonald drove in 2, increasing his lead on the school's all-time RBI list.
McDonald provided more heroics in game 2, belting a moonshot of a home run to left in the bottom of the eighth inning to produce the game-winning run in a 9-8 win over the Cardinals.
SVSU appeared to be in command of much of game 2, tossing up five runs in the second inning to take a 5-2 lead. But the Chargers responded right away, knotting the game in the bottom of the second thanks to a two-run single by Sobieszczanski and an RBI single by freshman Cam Maxwell.
An unsung hero of the game 2 win was freshman pitcher Chris Ackerman. He entered the game with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth and got out of the jam, keeping the Cardinals off the board. He wiggled out of a similar spot in the fifth, when the Cardinals had first and second with no outs. Ackerman wisely nullified a sacrifice bunt by SVSU by throwing out the lead runner at third, limiting potential damage on the play. After a wild pitch, Ackerman settled down to record two straight outs with Cardinals occupying second and third base.
Hillsdale outhit SVSU 17-12 in the second game, and the top three batters in the Charger order – Ortel, Sobieszczanski and McDonald – combined to go 9-for-13 with 7 RBI and 4 runs scored. Walts finished up a superb day at the plate by going 3-for-3 with a run scored, while Gentile was 2-fo-r5 with a run scored.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kadie Lowery