MONDAY RECAP
Game 3 box score: Hillsdale 5, Saginaw Valley State 2
Game 4 box score: Saginaw Valley State 5, Hillsdale 4
Senior Phil Carey went all 7 innings to help the Charger baseball team to a 5-2 win in the first game of Monday's doubleheader against Saginaw Valley State in Tennessee.
The outing, one of the best in Carey's career, saw him strike out four and walk just one in seven innings of work. He had an excellent 88-57 strike-to-ball ratio, showing good command of all of his pitches, particularly for his first start of the spring.
Although Hillsdale had six hits, the team made the most of them, with six different players contributing. Senior Colin Hites and junior Colin Boerst each scored two runs, with Boerst contributing a double and a run batted in. Junior Steven Ring doubled, drove in a run and scored a run, while senior Ryan O'Hearn singled and drove in a run.
Game four of the series saw Hillsdale fall behind 4-0 by the end of the second inning. But the team battled back with a run in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to come to within 5-4. But neither team scored over the last 1 1/2 full innings in the game.
Boerst had a double in a 2-for-4 game with a run scored. Rob Zurawski scored two runs, and Ring, Dylan Lottinville and Ryan O'Hearn each drove in runs in the final game of the series.
SUNDAY RECAP
Game 1 box score: Saginaw Valley State 16, Hillsdale 9
Game 2 box score: Hillsdale 8, Saginaw Valley State 7
The Hillsdale College baseball team opened the 2018 season in Johnson City, Tennessee Sunday, and split its first set of games against Saginaw Valley State.
The Cardinals scored eight runs in the final two innings of a 16-9 win over the Chargers in game one. Game two was suspended from Sunday night into Monday morning due to darkness, with the score tied at 5 after four innings. Hillsdale won that second game 8-7 thanks to a two-run walk-off double by sophomore Jake Rhodes.
Game one saw wild momentum swings by both teams. After Hillsdale took a 2-1 lead, the Cardinals struck for six runs in the top of the third inning. Hillsdale had an answer, scoring three times in the fourth and four more times in the fifth to take a 9-7 lead.
But SVSU took the lead thanks to a pair of four-run innings, in the eighth and ninth innings.
Sophomore outfielder Dante Toppi had a terrific debut to the 2018 season, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Senior Colin Hites and Boerst also drove in two runs apiece, and Lottinville had a triple and scored a run.
Toppi hit his first career home run early in game two, a three-run shot as part of a career-best 4 RBI game for Hillsdale. Walts went 3-for-3 at the plate with a triple, and Boerst and Ryan O'Hear each hit doubles. Freshman pitcher David Toth picked up the win in relief in his collegiate debut. He struck out the only batter he faced to end the top of the seventh inning.