MARCH 8 RECAP
Game 3 box score - HC 11, U 7 (8 inn.)
The Hillsdale College baseball team came away with a weekend split against Maryville, with the two teams splitting Sunday's doubleheader as they did Saturday's.
The Chargers tallied four runs in the top of the eighth inning of Sunday's opener to win 11-7. The Saints plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth of the nightcap to come from behind for a 4-3 win. Hillsdale is now 3-5 on the season and next plays at Union in Tennessee Tuesday.
Junior Mitchell Gatt picked up his first career win in the opener in a relief effort for Hillsdale.
The sixth inning started off innocently enough, with the Chargers trailing the Saints 2-1. Hillsdale then scored six times in the top of the sixth to take a commanding 7-2 lead. Michael O'Sullivan and Luke Ortel each had two-run doubles in that inning. But Maryville responded by scoring five times in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game up. Gatt came on in relief with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth and recorded two key outs to get the Chargers out of the jam. He then tossed a scoreless seventh, setting up the offense to take the game back.
Junior Chris McDonald delivered a bases-loaded, two-run single in the eighth to make the score 9-7. Freshman Alex Walts followed up with a two-run single of his own, scoring McDonald and Tad Sobieszczanski. Senior Dan Pochmara set the Saints down in order in the eighth to clinch the win.
Walts and Ortel each went 3-for-5 in the first game, while O'Sullivan and McDFonald each had two hits.
Both offenses quieted down in the second game, combining for seven runs, after the teams combined for 52 runs in the first three games of the series. Sobieszczanski had a double and two runs batted in for Hillsdale in the second game, while Eric Shankin and O'Sullivan each had a hit and a run scored. McDonald pitched all six innings for Hillsdale in game two.
MARCH 7 RECAP
Game 1 box score - MU 10, HC 7
Game 2 box score - HC 15, MU 2
The next leg of the spring road trip for the Hillsdale College baseball team opened up in a bad way. The Chargers trailed Maryville University 10-2 through three innings of Saturday's opener. But from that point on, Hillsdale scored 20 of the next 22 runs scored in the remaining 11 innings of baseball between the teams.
The Chargers lost game one 10-7, but bounced back to win game two 15-2 in Missouri.
Maryville scored four runs in the first and three each in the second and third innings to take a huge lead in the opener. The Chargers responded with two runs in the fourth and three more in the seventh before running out of outs to finish the comeback.
Senior Vinny Delicata was 2-for-2 with 2 RBI in the first game for Hillsdale, while junior Tad Sobieszczanski, freshman Alex Walts and DH Sean Bennett each had a hit, a run batted in and a run scored.
Everybody controbuted to one of the Chargers' most lopsided wins in years in game two. Ten different players scored runs, and the team's 17 hits were spread among 11 different players.
Hillsdale was held off the scoreboard until the fourth inning, when it exploded for six runs. Junior Luke Ortel blasted a three-run home run in the inning to give Hillsdale the big lead.
The Chargers added five more runs in the sixth and four in the seventh to finish out the scoring.
Sobieszczanski hit a solo home run for Hillsdale, his first of the season. Bennett drove in a career-high four runs with two doubles. Walts went 3-for-5 while junior Chris McDonald was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Junior Michael O'Sullivan added two hits and two runs scored, while sophomore Ethan Wiskur had three hits and scored three runs.
Senior Shane Armstrong turned in a solid start on the mound in game two, scattering nine hits over six innings with five strikeouts.