Game 1 box score: Bellarmine 6, Hillsdale 5 (8 inn.)
Game 2 box score: Bellarmine 7, Hillsdale 1
The Charger baseball team lost the first two of a three-game weekend series with Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky Saturday afternoon.
Game one needed extra innings as the Knights won a 6-5 decision. In game two, Bellarmine took home a 7-1 victory. The teams complete their weekend set Sunday afternoon at 12:00.
Errors proved to be very costly to the Chargers in the opener. The team committed six errors in the field, and all six of the Knights' runs were scored as a direct or indirect result of those errors.
In 2016, Hillsdale set a GLIAC record for home runs by a team in a single season with 68. But through the first weekend of play in 2017, the Chargers had been kept in the ballpark. That changed Saturday.
Sophomore catcher Steven Ring hit the team's first homer of the season in the top of the sixth inning of game one, tying the game at 5 apiece. His shot scored Dylan Lottinville, who reached on an error.
Sophomore Colin Boerst led off game two with a solo home run, in what would be Hillsdale's only scoring of that contest. He was 2-for-4 with a run scored in game one, while senior Ethan Wiskur was 2-for-4 with a run batted in. Ring finished the opener 2-for-3 with two runs scored and 2 RBI.
Junior Will Kruse had another effective outing on the mound in game one for Hillsdale, striking out seven batters in 4 1/3 innings pitched. Freshman Jeff Burch didn't allow an earned run in three relief innings of work, but took the loss.
The Chargers were held to six hits after Boerst's leadoff home run in game two, and stranded six runners in the ballgame. Boerst was 2-for-4 in the nightcap, while Ring went 3-for-3 to lead the offense.