Game 1 box score: Bellarmine 5, Hillsdale 1
Game 2 box score: Hillsdale 5, Bellarmine 4
After a quiet offensive game in Saturday's opener, the Charger baseball team came alive and made clutch plays to pick up a 5-4 win over the 20th-ranked Bellarmine University at Knights Field in Louisville, Kentucky.
Bellarmine won the opener 5-1, giving the teams a split in their doubleheader. They wrap up the weekend series Sunday afternoon.
In game one, Hillsdale didn't record a hit until the top of the seventh inning. Cody Kanclerz's double broke the drought. He later scored on a single by senior Dante Toppi. Senior Andrew Verbrugge threw five innings in relief and didn't allow a run.
In the second game, the Chargers plated a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning to pull into a 5-4 lead, one they would hang onto thanks to some strong relief pitching from Josh Stella.
A senior, Stella got the win, pitching a perfect 1 1/3 innings with two strikeouts. Junior James Krick was also effective in middle relief, tossing 3 1/3 innings with 4 strikeouts, one walk and one run allowed.
The winning runs were provided by freshman Joe Hardenburgh, who blasted a two-run home run that brought in Danny Passinault for the game-deciding runs. Passinault was pinch-running for Steven Stratchan, who walked with one out in the seventh.
Stella recorded a strikeout to end a threat in the sixth when Bellarmine stranded two runners. He then faced just four batters to retire the Knights in the seventh to earn the victory.
Hardenburgh went 2-for-3 in the win. Rob Zurawski and Toppi each went 1-for-3 with a run scored and Kanclerz scored a run for the Chargers.
PHOTO: Camryn Olson