Another incredible comeback was met with another gut-punching loss for the Hillsdale College baseball team, playing in its first-ever NCAA Division II Tournament game Thursday night.
Grand Valley State's Matt Williams led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk-off home run, just moments after the Chargers erased a six-run deficit to tie the game, giving the Lakers a 9-8 victory in a first-round game held in Quincy, Illinois.
Hillsdale, 32-23 on the season, will now face the loser of Thursday night's Ashland-Indianapolis game in an elimination contest at 2:30 p.m. Eastern, 1:30 p.m. local time Friday.
The loss ruined another remarkable comeback by a Charger team that has shown off-the-charts resilience throughout this historic season. Hillsdale was facing an 8-2 deficit going into the top of the eighth inning when the comeback began.
The first five batters to the plate in the inning all generated base hits, including a double by senior Chris McDonald, who had an absolute monster day at the plate in his NCAA debut. Ethan Wiskur, Connor Bartlett and Alex Walts each delivered RBI singles, while Joe Gentile brought another run home on a fielder's choice that was followed by a fielding error. The four-run eighth-inning rally cut the Charger deficit to 8-6.
After a Tad Sobieszczanski single, McDonald launched his second home run of the night, dramatically tying the game at eight apiece. He hit a home run in the first inning to get the scoring started, and now has 14 home runs for the season, second-most in a season in school history.
The Lakers, who won the GLIAC Tournament last Sunday, are now 36-16-1 on the season.
McDonald went 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double, three runs scored and three runs batted in to lead the Charger offense. Sobieszczanski was 3-for-5 with two runs scored, and Wiskur went 2-for-5 with 2 RBI. Senior Luke Ortel had a single and reached base twice in the loss.
McDonald started the game on the mound and allowed four earned runs in six innings pitched, with four strikeouts and no walks allowed.
PHOTO CREDIT: Brad Monastiere