On a day when the Hillsdale College baseball team payed tribute to three former players who never got the senior day they deserved last season, their former team did them proud with a gutsy second-game performance to salveage a doubleheader split with Walsh on Saturday.
Coming off a brutal extra-inning loss in the first contest of the day and trailing 5-0 early to the Cavaliers in the second game, Hillsdale rallied with 11 straight runs across two innings to seal a 12-7 game two victory.
The Chargers plated six runs in the bottom of the third inning, all on singles. Cody Kanclerz hit a two run single to begin the rally, and Rob Zurawski, Nick Stepke, Joe Hardenbergh and Danny Passinault all added a RBI single as well.
Hillsdale seized control in the bottom of the fourth, buoyed by Hardenbergh's three-run home run in the inning, and a RBI single by Aidan Brewer. Zurawski added the exclamation point in the victory with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth.
Zurawski went 3 for 4 at the plate with a double to go with his RBI single and home run, and Kanclerz and Passinault each added two hits.
Paul Brophy got the win in relief for the Chargers, pitching one inning. Logan Simon got the start for the Chargers, striking out two and walking two in two innings, and Will Gifford and Brendan Pochmara combined for four innings of relief as well.
In the first game, the Chargers took a 12-11 lead into the seventh inning of a back-and-forth game, but Walsh got a solo home run in the top of the seventh to force extra innings, and then hit two more home runs in the top of the eighth to plate four runs and seal a 16-12 Cavalier victory.
Hillsdale rallied from an 11-8 deficit in the bottom of the sixth with three home runs of their own -- solo shots from Jeff Landis and Aidan Brewer and a two-run home run from Joe Hardenbergh, to take that 12-11 lead.
Earlier in the game, the Chargers battled back from a 5-0 deficit with four runs in the bottom of the third, on a three-run double by Landis and and a RBI double by Stepke, to cut the deficit to 5-4, then took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a RBI triple by Evan Fauquher and RBI singles from Kanclerz, Zurawski and Landis.
Landis went 3 for 5 at the plate to lead the Chargers in the loss, and Zurawski and Passinault each chipped in two hits.
Zane Barnhart took the loss for the Chargers in relief, striking out one and walking one in two innings. Andrew Verbrugge got the start, striking out one and walking three in four and a third innings, and Marc Bergeron and Dillon Manion each pitched in relief as well for the Chargers.
Before the game, Hillsdale College honored graduated seniors Josh Stella, Dante Toppi, and Jake Rhodes with a senior day ceremony. The three members of the Class of 2020 had their senior seasons cut short last spring by Covid-19, and never got the home ceremony and farewell that every other class in Hillsdale history has gotten due to the sudden cancellations. On Saturday, the Chargers rectified that injustice by giving the three the Senior Day celebration they would have received last spirng.
The 1-3 weekend drops the Chargers to 13-11 overall and 9-7 in G-MAC play, and puts the Chargers in sixth overall as they head into the bye week in the conference schedule.
Hillsdale next travels to undefeated G-MAC leader Kentucky Wesleyan for a four game series beginning on Saturday, April 17 for the team's next action.
Photo by Summer Fields
