This is what they play for.
A pinch-hit triple by senior Nick Sponseller and a single by senior Michael O'Sullivan turned out to be the difference in a 5-4, 12-inning elimination game win over Ashland University in the 2016 GLIAC Baseball Tournament Friday afternoon.
The Chargers, 31-21 on the season, will now face Malone at 2 p.m. Saturday.
This was Hillsdale's first-ever GLIAC Tournament win. The Chargers had been 0-4 in two previous conference postseason apperances, in 1994 and 2003.
Sponseller and O'Sullivan are two members of the team's senior class, who has led this team to its best season in history, and both stepped up in a tense, well-played game in Xenia, Ohio.
Sponseller smoked a triple to left field that scored senior catcher Joe Gentile with the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th. Sponseller is now 5-for-10 in pinch-hit situations this season, and none of those five hits was larger that this one.
A hugely important insurance run was provided by O'Sullivan, who singled home pinch runner Ryan O'Hearn to make it a 5-3 Charger lead.
A solo home run by Ashland in the bottom of the 12th turned out to be irrelevant, as senior pitcher Mitchell Gatt closed the door on the biggest win in Hillsdale's modern baseball history.
Gatt picked up his fourth win of the season going 1 1/3 innings in relief of starter Chris McDonald and relievers Evan Chalker and Lucas Hamelink.
Chalker was simply incredible in four innings of relief work, allowing just two hits with four strikeouts against a very potent Eagle lineup. After not having made an appearance in well over a week, Chalker answered the bell with excellent location on his pitches, and got ahead of nearly every hitter he faced.
Hillsdale took a 2-1 lead on a solo home run by senior outfielder Luke Ortel in the top of the sixth inning. It was just the second home run allowed all year by Ashland starter Brandyn Sittinger, the GLIAC Pitcher of the Year.
The Eagles responded with a two-run sixth on a bases-loaded single by Nick Edwards to make it a 3-2 Eagles lead.
Two innings later, Ortel played a big part in tying the game up. He drew a two-out walk, then advanced to second on a wild pitch, then got to third on an infield single by senior Tad Sobieszczanski. Ortel scored the game-tying run on a passed ball, making it 3-3 in the top of the eighth.
The score remained 3-3 through nearly four agonizing innings, when relief pitchers from both teams did excellent jobs at keeping the offenses off the board. Chalker turned in the longest and best outing of his season to keep Hillsdale in it until the seniors stepped up in the 12th inning.
Ortel drew two walks and was 2-for-4 with a single, a home run and two runs scored. Gentile stepped up with his second-straight multi-hit game and had a run scored and an RBI. Sophomore Alex Walts added a hit and a run scored.
Senior Chris McDonald turned in a terrific outing in a starting role, going six innings with two strikeouts and three runs allowed.
PHOTO CREDIT: Brad Monastiere