A three-run ninth-inning rally fell one run short Thursday afternoon for the Hillsdale College baseball team.
The Chargers dropped an 11-10 game to the University of Findlay at Simpson Field. It was Hillsdale's first home loss of the season and drops its record to 15-19 overall and 12-4 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Senior Ryan O'Hearn singled home Alex Walts and Kevin Monson to turn an 11-7 deficit to 11-9 in the ninth inning. Jake Hoover then produced an infield single that scored Jake Rhodes to make it a one-run game, but Findlay closer Josh Robinson got the final out of the game with the bases loaded, registering his 10th save of the season.
Findlay is 17-8 after Thursday's win.
There was rarely a dull moment in this game as the teams combined for seven multi-run innings, eight errors, 23 runners left on base, 32 total hits and 22 total runs. Each team was on the bad end of tough breaks on balls in play, but the Oilers took advantage of their chances early in the game, and were able to hang on at the very end.
The Oilers led 4-3 after just an inning and a half, but tacked on three in the top of the fourth to take a 7-3 lead. Freshman James Krick hit his third home run of the season, a rainbow to right field, to make it 7-4 in the bottom of the fourth.
Hillsdale tied it at 7 with a three-run rally in the sixth, highlighted by an RBI single by Walts that scored Dylan Lottinville with the tying run.
However, the Oilers scored once in the seventh and three more times in the eighth to take an 11-7 lead, setting up Hillsdale's attempted rally in the ninth.
Hoover had another terrific day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBI and a run scored. Walts was 3-for-5 with two runs batted in and one scored while Colin Hites had a productive day at leadoff, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and his first triple of the season.