The Hillsdale College baseball team made a late push in the second game of its conference opening doubleheader at Trevecca Nazarene on Wednesday to try and force a split of the day's action, but came up short in two losses to the Trojans.
Wednesday's games were originally scheduled to be hosted by Hillsdale, but wintry conditions in Michigan that left the field unplayable forced the game to be moved south.
In the second game of the day, Hillsdale took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Danny Passinault that scored Jaekob Sallee, and a double by Cody Kanclerz that scored Sean Nemetz. The Trojans answered back, tying the game in the top of the third inning and plating two runs in the top of the fifth to take a 4-2 lead.
Hillsdale had opportunities to tie the game up in both the bottom of the fifth and the bottom of the sixth. In the fifth, a two-out single by Jeff Landis and a double by Joe Hardenbergh gave the Chargers runners at second and third, but Hillsdale couldn't find the hit to drive them in.
The Chargers had better luck in the bottom of the sixth. Back to back singles by Nemetz and Nick Stepke to start the inning set up shortstop Aidan Brewer, who hit a single to center field that scored Nemetz and brought Stepke into scoring position. With the go-ahead run at first, however, the Chargers couldn't full capitalize, and couldn't break through in the seventh either in a 4-3 loss.
Nemetz was 2 for 2 at the plate to lead the Chargers and Kanclerz added two hits, including the RBI double as well for Hillsdale. Tommy MacLean took the loss for the Chargers, striking out two and walking three in five innings, and Chad Stevens pitched two innings of relief with three strikeouts and one walk as well.
Hillsdale opened the day with a 13-5 loss to Trevecca Nazarene, struggling to slow down a Trojans offense that pounded out 20 hits in the contest. The Chargers fell into an early 6-0 hole, but got a run back on an error in the bottom of the fourth inning, and added two runs on a RBI double by Danny Passinault and a sacrifice fly by Kanclerz in the bottom of the fifth. The cut the lead to 6-3 and got the Chargers back in the game, but the Trojans answered back with six runs in the top of the seventh inning to pull away for good. Jeff Landis and Nate Waligora each hit a solo home run late for the Chargers to cut into the deficit, but not enough to mount a comeback.
Hardenbergh finished with two hits, including a double, to lead the Chargers at the plate, while Will Gifford took the loss for Hillsdale, striking out two and walking one. Logan Simon and Daly Skees each pitched in relief for Hillsdale.
The Chargers fall to 5-10, 0-2 in G-MAC play with the losses. Hillsdale will look to bounce back and salvage a series split against the Trojans with two more contests on Thursday, starting at 2 p.m. Central time in Nashville.
Photo by Steve George