Pitching leads Chargers to Sunday sweep

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Great pitching lifted the Chargers to two wins over the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on Sunday, after dropping the first two games of the series on Saturday.

The story on Saturday was a lack of timely hitting from the Chargers, who left nine men on base en route to a 3-0 loss in the series opener, and then left another 10 men on base in the second half of the doubleheader, which Hillsdale lost 6-1.

“It was a matter of execution,” head coach Eric Theisen said. “We were really just a couple of timely hits and a couple of timely defensive plays away from winning Saturday’s games.”

Despite the two losses, Hillsdale starting pitching was effective on Sunday.

Junior Lucas Hamelink threw six innings in the opener, allowing three runs, one earned, on six hits.

Freshman Will Kruse followed by throwing 7 1-3 innings in the second game, allowing six runs, only two earned, on 12 hits.

“Both of our starting pitchers gave us a chance to win,” Theisen said. “They fought through some tough innings, and helped us to save the bullpen for Sunday.”

The lone Charger run of the day came on a bases loaded walk by junior Luke Ortel in the ninth inning of the second game.

When the Chargers arrived on Sunday for the second set of games, it was as if a switch had been flipped.

In the top half of the first inning Hillsdale doubled their run total from the previous day, scoring one run on a groundout by junior Connor Bartlett and adding another on a double by junior Chris McDonald.

The Chargers added another run in the second inning on a double by Ortel.

Senior Shane Armstrong threw 4 1-3 innings, allowing four earned runs on seven Cardinal hits.

After Armstrong’s exit, senior P.J. Cooley pitched the next 1 1-3 innings, allowing only two hits.  Junior Mitchell Gatt came in to record the final out of the sixth inning.

The Chargers entered the seventh inning trailing by a run, and quickly recorded two outs.

A string of two-out hits by Bartlett, McDonald, and sophomore Eric Shankin led to two Charger runs, giving Hillsdale a one run lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.

The man tasked to finish the tight game was senior closer Dan Pochmara.

“I love the idea of being on the mound at the end of the game,” Pochmara said. “There is definitely a little bit of pressure, but I am just out there to do what it takes to help the team get the win.”

Pochmara certainly did so, throwing the final inning while only allowing one Cardinal hit, giving the Chargers a 5-4 victory.

Game two seemed destined to be another shootout, with the Chargers scoring in the top of the first inning.

Junior Jacob Gardner had different plans, however, as he dominated the entire Cardinal lineup, throwing eight scoreless innings, while allowing six hits and striking out seven.

“The mindset after your team scores in the first is to just go out and do your best to throw up zeros,” Gardner said. “I was able to go out there and do that thanks mostly to the guys playing well behind me.”

Pochmara once again came in to close out his second game of the day, allowing no baserunners as the Chargers completed the sweep of the doubleheader.

The incredible performance by Gardner came after he threw 7 2-3 innings on Wednesday against Findlay, allowing only one earned run.

Many on the Hillsdale squad believed that these two starts warranted a GLIAC Player of the Week award, but the award instead went to Saginaw Valley freshman Michael Ellenbest, who threw seven shutout innings against the Chargers on Saturday.

“Jake should’ve gotten Player of the Week, no doubt in my mind,” Theisen said. “I don’t even begin to see how those two starts don’t deserve the award.”

Gardner allowed his team to express the disappointment for him, and instead decided to focus on the wins.

“It would’ve cool for the team to win the award two weeks in a row, but it just really isn’t that big of a deal to me personally,” Gardner said.

The Chargers will play the Grand Valley State Lakers in a four game series this weekend as they make a final push towards the GLIAC tournament.

“It is one game at a time at this point,” Theisen said. “We definitely still have a shot to make the tournament, and we still have control.  That means we have to go out and treat it is business as usual until the end.”