Game 3 box score: Lake Erie 3, Hillsdale 1
Game 4 box score: Hillsdale 14, Lake Erie 11
For the third time the past five games, the Charger baseball offense racked up 14 runs in Sunday's four-game series finale in Ohio.
Hillsdale earned a weekend series split with Lake Erie College in a wild 14-11 win in the nightcap. The Storm won Sunday's opener 3-1. With the 2-2 weekend split, Hillsdale stands at 11-19 overall and 7-9 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
After winning the series opener 14-1 on Saturday, the Chargers were held to a total of two runs in the two middle games of this series. But in the final game, Hillsdale clawed back from an 8-3 deficit with two huge innings that turned the tide of the entire series, a key one given how close these two teams are in the standings.
The Chargers scored six runs in the top of the sixth inning of game two to take a 9-8 lead. Chris Ackerman provided a key hit with a bases-loaded single that brought home Christian Rodino and James Krick to tie the game at 8-8. Kevin Monson followed with an RBI single that scored Dante Toppi to give Hillsdale its first lead of the game.
Lake Erie homered in the bottom of the sixth to tie it at 9-9, but Hillsdale responded in a big way, scoring five more times in the top of the eighth.
Monson again was in the middle of the rally, singling Toppi home shortly after a sacrifice fly by Rob Zurawski gave Hillsdale the lead. Junior Jake Hoover then hammered a triple that scored two runs, giving the Chargers important cushion at that point in the game.
Zurawski hit a solo home run and had two runs batted in during the game two win for the Chargers. Hoover was 2-for-5 with 2 RBI and two runs scored, and Rodino was 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. Monson had two hits, scored twice and drove in two.
PHOTO: Carly Gouge