The Hillsdale College baseball team entered this week's series at Kentucky Wesleyan in need of a spark after a rough recent stretch that's seen the Chargers lose 10 of their last 11 games.
Hillsdale may have found just that spark in a hard-fought doubleheader against the Panthers on Saturday, as the Chargers put all the grit they possess to take two from Kentucky Wesleyan.
The Chargers opened the day with a marathon first contest that saw Hillsdale pull out an 11-10 victory in the 13th inning, thanks to a go-ahead solo home run by Joe Hardenbergh to break a four ininng scoreless deadlock between the two squads.
Hillsdale had to battle back from behind after falling into a 4-0 hole in the bottom of the first inning. The Chargers rallied to get back in the game and first took the lead in the top of the fifth inning on a two-run home run by Cody Kanclerz, one of four home runs by the Chargers in a high-scoring contest. That shot put Hillsdale up 8-7, and both teams traded the lead back and forth multiple times in the next three innings. Kentucky Wesleyan retook the lead, 9-8, in the bottom of the fifth inning with two runs, and Hillsdale answered back in the top of the seventh with a RBI single from Danny Passinault and a go-ahead run scored by Passinault on a passed ball.
The Panthers tied the game at 10 apiece with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth, and for the next four tense innings, neither team could get the breakthrough run to pull ahead. Hillsdale closer Zane Barnhart completely shut down Kentucky Wesleyan across five and two thirds innings, striking out eight batters with no walks and giving just one hit and no runs to earn the win in relief. That opened the door for Hardenbergh in the top of the 13th, and Hardenbergh hit a blast to centerfield with two outs to give the Chargers the victory.
Hillsdale finished with 16 hits in the win, led by sophomore Will Shannon, who went 4 for 6 with a double and two solo home runs to help keep the Chargers in the game early. Kanclerz added three hits, including a double, along with his two run shot, and Passinault went 2 for 5 at the plate with a double as well.
Tommy MacLean got the start for Hillsdale, striking out six and walking three in four innings of work, and Dillon Manion pitched three and a third innings of relief as well, conceding just one earned run and three hits.
While the first game was a thriller, the Chargers took control of the second game early and rolled to an 8-2 victory to complete an undefeated day. Hardenbergh hit a second home run in the top of the fourth inning and that, coupled with a RBI groundout by Sean Nemetz, gave the Chargers a 2-1 lead. Shannon tacked on another run in the fifth inning with a RBI single for Hillsdale, and the Chargers blew the game open with five runs in the sixth inning. Evan Fauquher hit his first home run of the season to lead off the inning for Hillsdale, Hardenbergh hit an RBI double and Lewis Beals chipped in a two-run double as well for the Chargers.
On the mound, Will Gifford had an excellent outing to pick up his third win of the season, pitching all seven innings with five strikeouts, one walk and just four hits and two earned runs conceded.
Beals went 3 for 4 with two doubles and Hardenbergh was 3 for 4 with a double and a home run as well for Hillsdale, while Jeff Landis, Passinault and Nemetz each added two hits.
With the victories, Hillsdale improves to 8-12 overall, and gets back to .500 in G-MAC play at 3-3. The Chargers will look to secure its first series victory since Feb. 12 on Monday with two more games against the Panthers on tap beginning at 1 PM ET.
Photo by Steve George