The Hillsdale College baseball team experienced the brutality of March in Michigan last weekend as the Chargers (8-16, 3-5 GLIAC) battled through wind, rain, snow, and hail on their way to a split of a four-game set with the Wayne State Warriors (9-12, 3-5 GLIAC).
The series opened on Sunday due to cold weather on Saturday, but the delay did nothing to cool the Charger bats as Hillsdale exploded for 11 hits including five for extra bases on their way to a 13-4 victory.
Hillsdale wasted no time starting this barrage of runs, as junior Connor Bartlett led off the bottom half of the first inning with a home run to right field.
Freshman Alex Walts hit his first collegiate home run in the bottom of the third inning, one of six Chargers who tallied at least one RBI in the game.
“It was a great feeling to put a couple runs on the board for the team,” Walts said. “It felt great seeing how thrilled the guys were to see me succeed in that at bat.”
Senior Shane Armstrong contributed a solid pitching effort, giving up three runs, one earned, on five hits over five innings.
The second game of Sunday’s doubleheader was played in conditions that caused exasperation in the stands, but the brave fans that stuck around through snow and hail were treated to an incredible game, which ended in a 9-8 Charger walkoff victory.
“It can be tough playing in conditions like that,” sophomore Eric Shankin said. “Especially for pitchers it can be a real problem trying to keep their hands warm.”
Hillsdale’s starter, junior Lucas Hamelink, was hit unusually hard, perhaps a result of the weather, giving up five earned runs on 11 hits over 6 1-3 innings while striking out three.
This meant that the Chargers had a hole to dig out of, and they started to do so in a controversial second inning.
Shankin doubled to left with one out and advanced to third on a groundout by Walts. Then junior Michael O’Sullivan was called out on a bang-bang play at first base, and the Chargers took the field to begin the top of the third.
However, the two umpires met and ruled that the Warrior’s first baseman had pulled his foot of the bag, and the Chargers were awarded the run.
“Ultimately they got the call right and that’s what matters,” head coach Eric Theisen said. “Obviously that run ended up being huge, and so its a good thing they did.”
The Chargers played catch up for the next few innings until they finally took the lead with four runs in the seventh inning.
The Warriors drew even with the Chargers with three runs in the eighth and ninth, but Hillsdale did not let the game slip away.
After an error put Bartlett on first base, a groundout by senior Sean Bennett moved Bartlett to second. Sobieszczanski then looped a hit into center field to drive in the winning run, before disappearing beneath a pile of teammates.
“At first I didn’t think it was going to fall, so it was a surprise when I got mobbed by everyone,” Sobieszczanski said.
For as well as the Chargers played on Sunday, they struggled on Monday, dropping both games of the doubleheader.
Monday’s first game was a tight one, but the Warriors pulled out a 5-3 victory in which the Chargers never led.
Hillsdale’s RBIs came from Bartlett, Bennett, and Breymaier in a comeback effort put together in the fourth and fifth innings.
Hillsdale was put in a position to complete the comeback thanks to a tremendous effort by junior Jacob Gardner, who struck out five while allowing no runs on three hits over 3 1-3 innings after replacing freshman Will Kruse.
The series finale went to the Warriors 14-3, a game which saw five errors by the Chargers lead to seven unearned runs for Wayne State.
The Charger offense struggled to figure out Wayne State freshman Jared Tobey who allowed only four hits over six innings while striking out six.
“We just weren’t ready to go on Monday,” said Theisen. “This week we’re going to make sure we sweat the small stuff so that we’re ready for this weekend.”
Hillsdale will travel to Northwood this weekend for doubleheaders on both Friday and Saturday.