The Hillsdale College baseball team stepped out of conference play for a night Tuesday night, but lost a 7-5 decision to Lourdes College in a game played at Toledo's Mercy Field. The Chargers are 9-21 overall and head north to Midland to face Northwood University in a GLIAC doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The Chargers fell behind 4-0 after the third inning when Lourdes scored two in the second and two in the third. The team's first two runs came after Hillsdale committed two errors with two outs. Both batters who reached via error ended up scoring, giving the home team an early lead.
In the fourth inning, Hillsdale evened up the score at four, thanks to an RBI double by freshman Ethan Wiskur, a single by sophomore Luke Ortel, and a two-run single by senior Adam Ladzinski.
Sophomore Chris McDonald's RBI single in the fifth gave Hillsdale a 5-4 lead. His hit brought home sophomore Tad Sobieszczanski, who led off the inning with a walk.
But that would be the last time Hillsdale would score, as Lourdes shut it out over the game's final four innings. Three runs in the bottom of the sixth gave Lourdes the lead for good.
Seven different pitchers took the mound for the Chargers, and they hit four Lourdes batters with pitches in the game.
Perhaps the most positive development out of this game was the return of sophomore pitcher Lucas Hamelink, who took the mound for the first time all season. He pitched a scoreless fourth inning, walking one batter and striking out another. Hamelink was one of the team's top starting pitchers last year, and this was his first step back to getting back into the rotation.
Senior Nolan Nunez had a double and was 2-for-5 in the game. Wiskur had a hit, a run scored and a run batted in, a total matched by Ortel.