Trailing 17-13 in the top of the ninth inning, the Hillsdale College baseball team rallied with five runs to earn the victory, 18-17, over host Saginaw Valley State in a shootout on Tuesday night.
After Hillsdale's first two batters reached base to start the inning, senior Jeff Landis blasted a three-run home run, his second of the game, over the right centerfield wall to cut SVSU's to one. Freshman Will Millard drew a walk in the next at bat and stole second, then scored to tie the game on a SVSU throwing error on a Kaden Nowak sacrifice bunt attempt.
With Nowak now on second, freshman Aaron Jasiak delivered the decisive blow, singling to centerfield to score Nowak for what would be the winning run.
With Hillsdale now ahead, Andrew George closed out the bottom of the ninth for the Chargers to record his second save of the season, putting down SVSU's batters in order and striking out the Cardinals' final batter to punctuate the victory.
The win is a big one for the Chargers, who not only rallied from a big deficit in the ninth but overcame a 6-1 deficit after 2 innings and an 11-8 deficit after seven innings. Hillsdale did it by capitalizing on three SVSU errors, scoring two critical runs as a result, and also with impressive power at the plate, blasting seven home runs for 13 of the team's 18 runs in the game. Jaekob Sallee helped carry the Chargers early with a solo shot in the top of the third and a three-run home run in the top of the fourth, while Landis had a two-run blast in the top of the eighth to go with his game-changing three-run home run in the ninth.
Sallee also added a double to cap a 3 for 6 day at the plate for the Chargers, while Will Shannon was 2 for 4 with a double and a home run, Evan Fauquher added a home run and also stole home in the eighth inning, and Nowak added a two-run home run as well.
Hillsdale used seven pitchers in what was always planned to be a staff day, with Daniel Higdon getting the start and Tommy MacLean and Devin Murray each going two innings as well. Higdon and Murray each finished with three strikeouts in the contest. Brandon Scott earned the win in relief for the Chargers, striking out one and recording the final two outs of the eighth inning before Hillsdale pulled ahead in the ninth.
The Chargers (4-8) will take on SVSU tomorrow in another nine-inning contest ahead of Hillsdale's home-opening and G-MAC opening series against Findlay, beginning on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Photo by Steve George