Game 1 box score: Hillsdale 8, Ohio Valley 6
Game 2 box score: Hillsdale 17, Ohio Valley 5
The wind was blowing out at Simpson Field for Friday afternoon's G-MAC doubleheader between Ohio Valley and Hillsdale College. The Chargers took full advantage of that.
Hillsdale's offensive lineup was unstoppable, scoring 25 runs and crushing nine home runs in wins by scores of 8-6 and 17-5 to begin a home four-game series vs. the Fighting Scots. The wins make the Chargers 14-19 overall and get them back to .500 in conference play at 9-9.
In game one the Chargers took a 5-1 lead with some timely hitting and crafty pitching by senior lefty Jonathan Lapshan. But the Scots rallied to make it 5-5 by the seventh inning. But the offense responded in the late innings to retake the lead.
Christian Rodino led off with a double and Dante Toppi followed with a two-run home run to give the Chargers a 7-5 lead.
Junior Jake Hoover led off the bottom of the eighth with a monaster solo home run to dead center field, giving Hillsdale a crucial extra run.
The Scots scored once in the ninth but sophomore David Toth shut the door with a game-ending strikeout. Toth recorded a five-out save with three strikeouts.
Lapshan set a career-high with nine strikeouts in recording his fourth win of the season. He located his pitches extremely well and kept the Scots off balance for most of their at bats. Three of OVU's five runs came on a three-run home run, while four of their hits were bunt singles.
Seven different players drove in runs for Hillsdale. Hoover went 3-for-5 while Rodino had two hits and scored twice. Colin Boerst was 2-for-4 and Rob Zurawski hit a solo home run for Hillsdale.
The Chargers wasted little time in gaining the advantage in game two, scoring six times in the bottom of the first inning, a surge highlighted by home runs off the bats of Hoover and James Krick.
Krick had a monster game at the plate, going 4-for-4 with two home runs, two runs scored and 3 RBI. Hoover homered on the first OVU pitch of the game and finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
Senior Kevin Monson got in on the fun with a grand slam home run in the fifth inning as part of a seven-run Charger explosion. He went 2-for-5 with a career-high 5 RBI in the win.
Senior Steven Ring just couldn't watch all this home run hitting by his teammates and not join in on it all. He added a solo home run, as part of a 2-for-4 game for the Chargers. Boerst also homered while going 3-for-5 with 3 RBI. Chris Ackerman doubled and went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two driven in, continuing his best offensive season of his career.
Chris Stewart was effective on the mound for Hillsdale, pitching hard and pitching well in getting his first victory of the season. He struck out a career-high eight batters and allowed five hits over six innings of work.
PHOTO: MaryKate Drews