The Hillsdale Chargers baseball team lost three of four games against the Bellarmine University Knights this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Chargers’ lone win of the weekend came in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, when the Chargers knocked off the Knights 5-4 in a seven inning affair.
The win came on the back of a stellar pitching performance by junior Lucas Hamelink. The right-hander threw six innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits, two strikeouts, and one walk.
“Our starting pitching gave us a chance to win every single game,” head coach Eric Thiesen said. “That’s one big takeaway.”
Hillsdale struck early, scoring four runs in the second inning, and tacking on another in the third. A pair of Hillsdale juniors, Luke Ortel and Joe Gentile, both tallied RBIs in the game.
Senior Dan Pochmara threw the last inning of the game, giving up three runs, one earned, holding off a Knights’ comeback attempt.
Hillsdale followed up the victory in the first game with a 4-1 loss in Sunday’s second game.
Bellarmine freshman Eddie Mathis threw a gem, allowing one run on six hits and striking out four in a complete game performance.
Senior pitcher Shane Armstrong allowed three runs, all unearned, on one hit and five walks over 4 1-3 innings.
The Chargers lone run of the game came on an RBI double by senior Nolan Breymaier in the third inning.
After the Sunday’s split the Chargers returned to Tiger Field for another doubleheader against Bellarmine on Monday.
The Knights beat the Chargers 6-5 in Monday’s first game, in which a spirited Hillsdale comeback fell short
Hillsdale tied the game with three runs in the top of the seventh on a pair of RBI singles by Breymaier and junior Tad Sobieszczanski.
“We have been working a lot on our approach at the plate, and we saw a lot of good at-bats throughout the weekend,” Thiesen said.
Bellarmine answered with a walk, a sacrifice bunt, a hit batsman, and a single by junior Jes Staples to score a run off of Hillsdale sophomore Joe Chasen, delivering them the victory.
Despite a powerful 3-for-4, two-RBI performance by Sobieszcanski, Hillsdale fell in the series finale 6-3.
“It feels good to start off on the right track,” Sobieszcanki said, “but we just need to get everybody on the right track at the same time.”
Junior Chris McDonald recorded the loss the Chargers, giving up four earned runs on seven hits over five innings while striking out three.
Although the weekend did not turn out as the team had hoped, they remain optimistic moving forward.
“Shoot, the biggest thing is that we got outside and played at this time of year,” said Thiesen. “That’s a very good team. We would have liked to have done better, but we just need to be patient and persistent in our improvement.”
The Chargers are looking to refocus before they head out on a spring break trip that will take them to Missouri and Tennessee next week.
“We want to stay as business-like as possible while still maintaining our passion for game.” assistant coach Gordon Thiesen said.
During next week’s road trip the Chargers will play 12 games in eight days against Maryville University, Union University, LeMoyne-Owen College, Alderson-Broaddus University, and Trevecca Nazarene University.
