The fifth edition of the Hillsdale College baseball team’s annual Home Run Derby was an eventful one, with an exciting contest on the field, a new Charger head coach, and an exciting crowd.
But the most impactful moment of the day came at the beginning of the event, when the Charger baseball team retired the jersey of former player Kevin Gilchrist.
Gilchrist, a Northville, Michigan native, played for the Chargers from 1998 to 2002, serving for several seasons as the team’s first baseman and posting a career slugging percentage of .498. In 2011, Kevin’s life was tragically cut short, but his legacy continues to live on at Hillsdale.
In honor of Kevin’s memory and the impact he made as a friend and teammate, his family and friends established the Kevin Gilchrist Endowed Baseball Scholarship at Hillsdale College in 2011, and since its establishment the scholarship has benefited over 25 Charger baseball players up to the present day.
To recognize Kevin, the Hillsdale College baseball team held a ceremony along with his parents, Stan and Marti, before the Derby officially retiring the number 45 that Gilchrist wore during his playing days.
“"It was incredibly special to see our current scholarship recipients standing next to the Gilchrist family,” said first-year Charger baseball head coach Tom Vessella. “The number 45 is the first and only jersey to be retired and will forever hang in our hitting barn for the team to see."
"Kevin’s memory will forever play a large role in our program. The scholarship that bears his name has had a positive impact for many of our baseball players throughout the years and will continue to honor Kevin every year in the future."
Once the Derby got under way, the Charger baseball team put on a show, hitting 103 total home runs in the event across seven matchups.
After three rounds of close matches and shocking upsets, the player left standing was sophomore outfielder Joe Hardenbergh, who walked off with 16 seconds left on the clock in the final round to top teammate and fellow sophomore outfielder Steven Strachan III in a thrilling 9-8 final.
Hardenbergh used the lessons he’d learned in last year’s Derby to take home the crown in his second attempt.
“Last year, I got a bunch of extra time, and I was just swinging full-out from the start and wore myself out too fast,” Hardenbergh said. “This year, I paced myself better and made sure I had some left in the tank for the end, which made a big difference.”
Finding the proper pacing was especially critical for Hardenbergh after an opening round showdown with sophomore outfielder Lewis Beals that required two tiebreaker overtime rounds and included 27 total home runs.
After Beals hit three home runs in 30 seconds in the second overtime, Hardenbergh came back undaunted and blasted four in the same time frame to take the victory.
The sophomore, also from Northville, had another close call in his semifinal victory over sophomore first baseman Jeff Landis, as a potential tying home run for Landis that could have forced an extra round went off the fence in an 8-7 Hardenbergh victory.
“This event is always exciting for us,” Hardenbergh said. “It’s a long time between the end of the season and the start of the next one, so to be able to come out and compete and have fun and see the fans, it means a lot for us. We’re very grateful for the support we get.”
All told, the baseball team brought in $16,518 through the Home Run Derby, thanks to generous donations from family, alumni and friends of the program.
"I thought this year's Home Run Derby was a great success and I am already getting excited for next year's contest,” Vessella said. “With the help of alumni, families, and friends we were able to raise over $16,000 for the team which will all go towards our continued quest to make Hillsdale the premier baseball program in the region.
"It was just a joyous event overall. Our boys brought great energy and watching how much fun they had on the field really made the day for everyone in attendance."
The Chargers return all but three players from a team that finished sixth in the G-MAC in 2021 and reached the elimination bracket final of the G-MAC Tournament. Hillsdale opens the 2022 season with a three-game series in Hoover, Alabama against Davenport, beginning on Feb. 12, and has its first home contest on March 18 against new G-MAC arrival Ashland.
You can find the full 2022 Charger baseball schedule here.
Full Results of the 2021 Charger Home Run Derby:
Quarterfinals:
Jaekob Sallee d. Cooper Peterson 6-4
Steven Strachan III d. Cody Kanclerz 6-4
Jeff Landis d. James Krick 6-5
Joe Hardenbergh d. Lewis Beals 14-13 (2OT)
Semifinals:
Steven Strachan III d. Jaekob Sallee 6-5
Joe Hardenbergh d. Jeff Landis 8-7
Final:
Joe Hardenbergh d. Steven Strachan III 9-8