The Hillsdale College baseball team battled to the final out but came up short in two neutral site contests against Northwood on Sunday to close out a weekend series.
The Chargers fell 10-9 in the first game of the day, then took a 5-2 loss in the second contest, both seven inning games, to finish its trip to Johnson City, Tennessee with a 1-3 record.
Hillsdale staged a spirited comeback in game one, rallying from a 7-0 deficit after two and a half innings to make it to the bottom of the seventh trailing 10-9 and with the winning run in scoring position. Ultimately, however, the Chargers couldn't get the hit it needed to complete an epic comeback.
Trailing 7-0, Hillsdale got back in the game with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Junior Cody Kanclerz drove in a run on a fielder's choice to get the Chargers on the board, and Joe Hardenbergh and Aidan Brewer each chipped in a RBI single later in the inning to help jump-start Hillsdale's offense.
Northwood answered back with three runs in the fourth and fifth innings to retake a 7-run edge, but Hillsdale cut back into the deficit with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, one of which came on another RBI hit by Brewer, this time a double. Then, with the Chargers trailing 10-5 in the bottom of the sixth, junior Cooper Peterson kicked the comeback into high gear with a three-run home run blast that cut the deficit to two runs.
With a chance to walk off in the bottom of the seventh, Hillsdale got one of the three runs it needed on a RBI single by Danny Passinault that scored Brewer, and loaded the bases with two outs, but the one final hit it needed to pull ahead proved elusive as the Timberwolves got out of the jam and secured the victory.
Hillsdale outhit Northwood 15-10 in the loss but committed three errors, two of which led to runs that proved to be the difference in the contest.
Devin Murray got his first career start and took the loss for the Chargers, pitching two innings with one strikeout. Mark Bergeron, Drew Erdei and Dillon Manion all appeared in relief for Hillsdale.
The Chargers had another close call in the second game, hanging with Northwood throughout the contest but proving unable to overcome a two-run home run in the top of the first inning and two late insurance runs in the seventh in a 5-2 loss.
Hillsdale once again battled despite playing at a deficit for the entire contest. The Chargers twice cut the Timberwolves' lead to a single run, first when Kanclerz drove in a run on a ground ball in the bottom of the third inning to get Hillsdale on the board, and again in the bottom of the fifth inning when a sacrifice fly by Nate Waligora scored Steven Strachan III after Strachan hit a leadoff triple.
But once again, the big, game-changing hit proved elusive for Hillsdale, which had just four hits in the contest and five baserunners total. Hardenbergh chipped in a double as well for the Chargers, and Passinault and Sean Nemetz each added a single as well.
Paul Brophy got the start and was the hard-luck loser for Hillsdale, pitching five innings with six strikeouts and two walks and giving up just four hits and three earned runs in a performance that likely would have been good enough to get the win in any of the other three games played this weekend. Zane Barnhart struck out two of the three batters he faced in an inning of scoreless, hitless relief and James Crick also appeared in relief for the Chargers, with a strikeout and two walks.
Hillsdale falls to 3-4 after today's contest but has to be pleased with the fight it showed against two teams expected to be among the best squads not just in the GLIAC but in the Midwest Region as a whole. The Chargers hit the road again next weekend to take on GLVC foe Maryville, currently 1-2 overall, in a four-game series that begins on Saturday, Feb. 26.
Photo by Anthony Lupi