Game 3 box score: HC 5, SVSU 4
Game 4 box score: HC 1, SVSU 0
The Hillsdale College baseball team used clutch hitting and lights-out pitching to reverse its two losses from Saturday, turning it into a Sunday sweep on the road.
The Chargers defeated Saginaw Valley State 5-4 and 1-0 to finish the weekend with a road split with the Cardinals. Hillsdale is now 15-25 overall and 10-14 in the GLIAC, and the team concludes its home schedule next weekend with a four-game series against Grand Valley State.
In the opener, Hillsdale rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the seventh inning to pick it a dramatic win. Connor Bartlett got the rally started with a two-out double. Bartlett's pinch runner Ryan O'Hearn would score the tying run thanks to an RBI single by Chris McDonald. An error at the plate allowed McDonald to tally the game-winning run.
Senior pitcher Dan Pochmara shut the door, picking up the first of his two saves on the day.
In the second game, the story was another brilliant pitching performance from junior Jacob Gardner. He tossed eight shutout innings, striking out seven batters with three walks and six hits allowed. Gardner has come into his own lately, allowing just one earned run in his last 15 2/3 innings, a time spanning his last two starts.
Hillsdale's lone run came in the first, when Luke Ortel and Michael O'Sullivan each picked up base hits to start the game, then each stole bases, to position runners at second and third. Tad Sobieszczanski's groundout scored Ortel for the game's only run.