SCHEDULE
#6 Hillsdale College (19-21, 15-17 G-MAC) vs #3 Ohio Dominican (27-9, 19-9 G-MAC) | 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, May 12 | Legacy Field – Mason, Ohio | Watch | Stats
Championship Central | Full Bracket | 2021 Hillsdale Stats | Tickets
Outlook: The Hillsdale College baseball team returns to Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio this week as the sixth-seed in the G-MAC Tournament, looking to recapture the magic of a 2018 title run that saw them enter the tourney in a similar position and roll all the way to the conference crown.
That year, Hillsdale was the third-place team in the North Division – the rough equivalent of the 5/6 seed-line – but pulled two upsets and dispatched the top seed from the South Division, Kentucky Wesleyan, in the final on Saturday, 15-2, to win the conference crown.
The following year, in 2019, the Chargers were in the hunt to make it back to Prasco until the final weekend, but came up short, and then in 2020 Hillsdale never got to play a conference game due to the Covid-19 pandemic bringing the season to an abrupt end.
This year, Hillsdale again entered the final weekend needing to win games to secure a tournament berth – and answered the bell, winning three of four against Findlay and securing the berth on a walk-off home run by Aidan Brewer on Friday evening. In fact, Hillsdale's success in the final weekend not only got them into the tournament, but pushed them from the eighth and final seed all the way up to sixth in the final standings.
Hillsdale enters the tournament as one of the top power teams in the conference offensively. The Chargers have four of the ten players in the G-MAC with nine or more home runs –Brewer, sophomores Jeff Landis and Joe Hardenbergh, and senior Rob Zurawski, and Landis is second in the G-MAC with 14, including three grand slams. In total, 11 of the 15 players who have made plate appearances for the Chargers in 2021 have hit at least one home run, and eight have at least three. Zurawski is batting a team-best .342 among regulars with 10 doubles, nine home runs and 28 RBIs for the Chargers, junior Cody Kanclerz is batting .331 with eight doubles and four home runs, and sophomore Nick Stepke is batting .323 with nine extra-base hits as well.
On the mound, the Chargers return every pitcher that started a game for Hillsdale in 2020, and they've had a solid year, combining for 318 strikeouts to date to shatter the old single-season record of 301 set in 2018 with at least two G-MAC tournament games to be played.
Junior David Toth is responsible for nearly a third of that total himself, leading the G-MAC with 91 strikeouts in 10 starts, a total that breaks the Hillsdale single-season record of 82 set by Will Kruse in 2017. Toth also threw the program's first no-hitter in at least 23 years against Maryville on the first day of the season. He's paired with four-year starter Andrew Verbrugge, who's 5-2 on the year with the Chargers and is in the top 10 all-time in career wins, strikeouts and innings pitched at Hillsdale. Sawyer Allen and James Krick have been dependable starters as well, and sophomores Will Gifford and Logan Simon have been impactful as relievers, combining for four wins and four saves in 19 total appearances.
Hillsdale opens the tournament with a game against third-seeded Ohio Dominican on Wednesday. The Chargers and Panthers met in the first G-MAC series of the season for both teams, splitting four contests over March 12-14. Hillsdale is one of just three teams to win or split a series with the red-hot Panthers this season, along with top-seeded Trevecca Nazarene and eighth-seeded Malone.
ODU has been one of the better offensive teams in the conference and one of the better pitching teams, finishing in the top half of the league in most categories.
The Panthers have a strong and balanced lineup, with six regulars hitting above .300 and four players with 30 or more RBIs. Leading the way is senior outfielder/catcher Jace Komminsk, who's batting .322 with 11 doubles, six home runs and a team high 36 RBIs while also leading the team in on-base percentage (.497).
Sophomore infielder David Silva also is having an excellent year, batting .378 with 14 doubles and 32 RBIs, and sophomore outfielder Alex Brill is ODU's top power bat, hitting 15 doubles, nine home runs and 34 RBIs.
On the mound, the Chargers are likely to see freshman Scott Rouse, who is 5-2 on the season with 57 strikeouts and a 3.75 ERA as ODU's leading starter all season long. He did struggle against Hillsdale, which scored nine runs on eight hits with six earned in five innings in an 18-14 Charger victory on March 12. If the Panthers decide to go a different direction, they could also go with freshman Michael Lesiecki (3-2, 32 Ks, 7.68 ERA), junior Brendan Hofacre (3-0, 29 Ks, 6.99) or sophomore Grayson Hamilton (3-2, 21 Ks, 3.47 ERA) as potential alternatives.
ODU's top relief arm is redshirt freshman Myles Martinez, who's 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA in 15 innings pitched, and the team's closer is freshman Derek Bolander, who has six saves on the year and a 1.93 ERA. Brill also gets some work as a reliever for the Panthers, going 3-0 with two saves in eight appearances as well.
The winner on Wednesday will advance to play the winner of the game between second-seeded Walsh and seventh-seeded Cedarville at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at Legacy Field in Mason, Ohio, while the loser of Wednesday's contest will meet the loser of the Walsh/Cedarville game in an elimination bracket contest at 10 a.m. Thursday.