On the day it celebrated its nine graduating seniors, the Hillsdale College baseball team split a competitive doubleheader with one of the top teams in the G-MAC, Walsh, at home on Sunday.
Hillsdale rallied from a deep 6-1 hole in a 10-6 Game 1 victory, after conceding five runs to the Cavaliers in the top of the first inning. Senior Cody Kanclerz got the Chargers on the board in the bottom of the second inning, leading off with a solo home run, but Walsh restored its five run edge in the top of the third inning with a run scored on a single and a fielding error.
The Chargers, however, methodically cut into Walsh's lead over the next five innings. Senior Lewis Beals hit a RBI single and later scored a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut Walsh's lead to 6-3, and Joe Hardenbergh blasted a ball over the left center fence in the bottom of the sixth to bring Hillsdale within a single run.
Hillsdale blew the game open in the bottom of the eighth inning. Trailing 6-5, Beals and senior Aidan Brewer opened the inning with back-to-back singles, then moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Will Shannon. Hardenbergh delivered the go-ahead hit, a single to centerfield that scored Beals and Brewer and gave the Chargers a 7-6 edge.
Jeff Landis put the exclamation point on a big inning for Hillsdale three batters later, hitting a three-run home run over the right field fence to give the Chargers their winning margin. Although not a save situation, Chargers closer Zane Barnhart still came in and shut the door, striking out the side in the top of the ninth to seal the victory.
Senior Dillon Manion earned the victory in relief for Hillsdale, pitching two impressive scoreless inning and striking out three of the seven batters he faced. While starter Will Gifford didn't record a decision, he bounced back impressively from that rough first inning, striking out nine batters in six innings of work and giving up just one additional unearned run to keep the Chargers in the game and give them a chance at victory.
Landis went 4 for 5 with that three-run home run to lead Hillsdale at the plate, and Shannon and Jaekob Sallee each chipped in three hits for the Chargers, who pounded out 17 in the contest.
In the nightcap, Walsh plated three runs in the first inning to once again take an early lead, but this time Hillsdale couldn't generate the timely hits it needed in a 4-2 loss to the Cavaliers to split the day.
Aidan Brewer hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning and drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth to aid the Chargers, but Hillsdale stranded nine on base in the loss, and failed to take advantage of a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the first inning, as well as runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Tommy MacLean took the loss for the Chargers, bouncing back from surrendering two home runs in the first inning to finish with a quality start, going six innings with two strikeouts, zero walks and just one earned run conceded after the first inning. Senior Logan Simon also pitched a scoreless inning of relief for Hillsdale, striking out one.
The Chargers are now 18-20 overall, 13-9 in G-MAC play, and remain fourth in the G-MAC North Division and sixth overall in the G-MAC with today's results. Hillsdale will look to take the series tomorrow with two more games against the Cavaliers at Simpson Field, starting at 1 p.m.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan