Game 1 box score: Hillsdale 15, Wayne State 5
Game 2 box score: Wayne State 14, Hillsdale 6
One of the most bizarre doubleheaders in Hillsdale College's GLIAC baseball history unfolded over more than seven hours on a rain-soaked Wednesday afternoon.
The Chargers went on another scoring binge in the second inning of the first game, scoring nine times in a 15-5 win over Wayne State University. The Warriors rallied for a rain-shortened 14-6 victory in the second game.
After the split, Hillsdale stands at 19-20 overall and 12-12 in the GLIAC.
The second game saw a 97-minute rain delay after the completion of the first inning. Play resumed at 6:10 p.m., and was to be the nine-inning game portion of the scheduled doubleheader. The game was tied at 5 in the top of the sixth, when as the setting was getting darker, the Warrior bats were getting hotter. Wayne State scored six runs in the top of the sixth to take an 11-6 lead.
Hillsdale got its at bat in the bottom of the sixth, but surprisingly, play was allowed to continue in the top of the seventh, after 8 p.m. at a facility with no lights. Wayne State scored three more runs in the frame, but after a foul ball deflected off the sports complex building and back onto the field, with very few people able to track the ball's trajectory, the field umpire called for the game to end.
The game was 1-1 before the rain delay, but it didn't affect the Chargers adversley at all, at least in the short term. Starting pitcher Kolton Rominski struck out the side in the top of the second, and Hillsdale put four runs across in the bottom half of the frame to take a 5-1 lead.
Colin Hites hit an RBI triple, and Colin Boerst followed with a run-scoring single to put Hillsdale on top. But the Warriors found a rhythm with their bats as the game went along and came back to tie it before taking the lead for good.
Hites had a double and triple, and was 2-for-4 with two runs scored in the loss.
Game one saw Hillsdale put together another impressive offensive performance. Dylan Lottinville, Alex Walts and Wiskur each clubbed home runs, with Wiskur's a straight lone drive shot over the center field fence, giving the team a GLIAC-leading 43 home runs on the season.
Boerst got the nine-run second inning started with a bases-loaded triple to put Hillsdale into a 6-3 lead. Walts followed with a three-run home run, and Lottinville's two-run dinger highlighted the explosion by the Chargers.
Wiskur went 3-for-3 with four runs batted in and three runs scored in the game one win for Hillsdale. Walts also had 4 RBI, and Ring was 2-for-3 with four runs scored.
Junior Will Kruse earned his seventh victory of the season, going five innings with seven strikeouts.