Game 1 box score: #15 Ohio Dominican 5, Hillsdale 4
Game 2 box score: #15 Ohio Dominican 3, Hillsdale 0
The baseball teams from Hillsdale and Ohio Dominican flipped spots in the standings for the second time in two days after the Panthers took both ends of a Sunday doubleheader in Columbus.
ODU won a bizarre 5-4 game in the opener, and won 3-0 in the nightcap. The second game goes in the books as a non-conference game, because both teams have missed enough other non-conference games that they could work this one into their schedules. Hillsdale is 18-22 overall and 15-6 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Saturday, Hillsdale swept ODU to jump into first place in the G-MAC. But ODU's Sunday win put it a half-game ahead of the Chargers in the standings, with two weeks to go in the regular season.
Sunday's first game went four full innings before either team scored, as pitchers Andrew Verbrugge (HC) and Joe Filosa (ODU) were both effective. The game stood at 1-1 in the eighth inning when Hillsdale's Dylan Lottinville doubled home Jake Hoover to put Hillsdale on top 2-1.
But Ohio Dominican came back to score four runs in the bottom of the eighth, an inning that saw Hillsdale give up four passed balls. Three of those runs were scored via passed ball, and the frame ended with the Panthers scoring four times with one hit. Two Charger errors also contributed to the rally.
Hillsdale didn't stay down for long in the ninth, when Steven Ring produced a two-run single, scoring Colin Hites and Ryan O'Hearn to make it a 5-4 game. But the Panthers got out of the jam with a two-out groundout to end the game.
Verbrugge had another quality start, going 7 1/3 innings with a season-high nine strikeouts and one earned run allowed.
Lottinville, Hites, Ring and Dante Toppi all had two-hit games for Hillsdale. Ring had 2 RBI and O'Hearn scored and run and drove in a run.
Ohio Dominican pitcher Garret Sendelbach pitched a shutout, marking the first time Hillsdale had been shut out this season. He allowed just two hits in the nightcap. Hoover and Alex Walts were the only Chargers to get hits in the second game.