The Hillsdale College baseball team fell in heartbreaking fashion to host Lake Erie in the second of a four-game series on Saturday at Mentor High School in Mentor, Ohio.
Three times, the Chargers entered the bottom of the inning with the lead and a chance to finish off the victory with three outs, but Hillsdale couldn't hold on to their advantage in any of the three instances, falling to a walk-off three run home run in the bottom of the 10th in a 9-7 defeat.
Hillsdale seized the lead early in what was originally scheduled to be a seven inning contest, as senior Joe Hardenbergh hit a three-run home run to center field in the top of the second inning to give the Chargers the lead. Still up 3-1 in the top of the seventh, Hillsdale tacked on two insurance runs on a pair of RBI triples by Jaekob Sallee and Will Shannon to take a 5-1 edge into the bottom of the seventh inning with a chance to end the game. Lake Erie, however, hit a pair of two-run home runs in a stunning turnaround in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
After both teams went without a run in the eighth, Hillsdale pulled ahead again, cashing in a leadoff double by freshman Rocco Tenuta with a sacrifice fly by Jeff Landis to go up 6-5. Once again, however, Lake Erie answered in the bottom of the inning, tying up the game with a RBI single and pushing the contest to the 10th inning.
In the top of the 10th, with international tiebreak rules in effect, Hillsdale scored their courtesy runner from second base on another sacrifice fly by Hardenbergh after a sacrifice bunt by Millard moved the runner over. Up 7-6, Hillsdale recorded two outs in the bottom of the 10th and was one away from ending the game when Lake Erie hit the walk off bomb to steal victory from the Chargers.
Freshman Tyler Turner and Shannon each finished with two hits at the plate to lead the Chargers, who scored seven runs on nine hits. Drew Olssen pitched six strong innings in another solid start, striking out six, walking two and giving up just one earned run, while Andrew George took the loss in relief for Hillsdale, and Devin Murray and Chad Stevens also pitched in relief.
Hillsdale is now 10-18 overall, 5-9 in G-MAC play and wraps up the series with Lake Erie on Sunday with a doubleheader against the Storm beginning at noon.
Photo by Reva Ludwig