Game 1 box score: Hillsdale 24, Davis & Elkins 13
Game 2 box score: Hillsdale 4, Davis & Elkins 1
Over the past two-plus seasons, the Hillsdale College baseball team has become an offensive juggernaut. But it has never in its history, put up the numbers it did in Sunday's first game.
The Chargers improved to 4-0 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference play with a sweep of Davis & Elkins College, by scores of 24-13 and 4-1 at Simpson Field.
The 24 runs scored in the first game represents a single-game school record. Hillsdale has produced a handful of 20-run games in its history, but it never scored as many as 24 in a single contest until Sunday's opener. The team hit that record thanks to three six-run innings, the first, third and eighth. The Chargers sent 21 batters to the plate combined in the first and third innings as every part of the lineup was crushing the ball.
One day after establishing a season-high with 22 hits, the Chargers banged out 23 in the game one win versus the Senators. Seven different players had multi-hit games and non-starters accounted for eight hits in the win.
Sophomore Dante Toppi went 4-for-4 with 4 RBI, 2 runs scored, a home run and a double. Junior Steven Ring destroyed a home run ball that hit the upper-right corner of the hitter screen in dead center field as part of a day where he went 3-for-5 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored.
For the weekend, Ring hit .625, doubled in all four games and belted three home runs with nine runs batted in.
Senior Ryan O'Hearn had a season-high three runs scored, going 3-for-4 with two runs batted in. Colin Boerst and Alex Walts each had two hits and two runs scored.
Coach Eric Theirsen subbed out the entire starting lineup late in the game but that didn't slow the offense down one bit. Kevin Monson was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two runs driven in, and Brendan Oosse and Jacob Depillo each had a hit, a run batted in and a run scored. Chris Iazzetta was 2-for-2 with a run scored while Christian Rodino had a hit, a run scored and a run batted in.
Sophomore Andrew Verbrugge was the winning pitcher, going 5.1 innings with five strikeouts. Freshman James Krick had a nice home debut on the mound, pitching 2.2 innings with two strikeouts.
Game two was a much more pleasing matchup for fans of pitching. Davis & Elkins starter Brent McMillon was terrific in a losing effort. He yielded just one hit through four innings as the Senators jumped to a quick 1-0 lead. But Hillsdale cashed in on its chane in the fifth to take the lead, thanks to Ring.
He blasted a bases-loaded double to the right field fence, scoring Colin Hites, Boerst and Walts to put Hillsdale up 3-1 with one swing of the bat. Ring would later score on a single by James Krick to wrap up the scoring.
Sophomore Kolton Rominski was excellent in his first home start of the season, throwing six innings with five strikeouts and no walks allowed. Freshman David Toth picked up his second save of the weekend, tossing a perfect seventh to preserve the win.