Athletics can provide the highest highs and the lowest lows — over spring break, the Hillsdale College baseball team saw both ends of the spectrum.
After sweeping four games from Davis & Elkins college over the first weekend of spring break, Hillsdale dropped two games to Tiffin on both Sunday and Tuesday to open conference play.
“We have to remember that we are still young and still learning, and learning even how to compete,” head coach Eric Theisen said. “…We need to look in the mirror and decide what kind of effort level we want to have every day, on a daily basis, and that’s a choice. The talent is there to compete in a conference tournament.”
For practice this week, the focus will be on the fundamentals and on competitive drive, according to both Eric Theisen and assistant coach Gordie Theisen.
“We need to get better about competing, believing in ourselves, and keeping the foot on the gas pedal,” Gordie Theisen said.
Game one of the series went to the the Tiffin Dragons 4-0. Although the Dragons only outhit the Chargers 8-6, the Chargers failed to string hits together, leaving seven men on base in the effort.
Junior captain Will Kruse tossed all six Charger defensive innings, allowing four earned runs, while also striking out four.
In game two, the Dragons pushed two runs across in the bottom of the first, before the Chargers tied the game in the top of the third, thanks to RBI doubles from sophomore catcher Donald Ring and freshman left fielder Dante Toppi.
After Tiffin scored one in the bottom half of the third, the Chargers pulled things even again in the top of the fifth on a Ring single. The Dragons answered with one of their own, before adding three in the sixth and one in each of the sixth and seventh innings. Hillsdale was only able to add one more, coming on a Toppi sacrifice fly, bringing the game to its 9-4 final.
The two teams reconvened on Tuesday, where Tiffin opened up a 4-0 lead over the first two innings. Hillsdale got one back in the top of the fifth when junior second baseman Alex Walts knocked an RBI double, but Tiffin responded with two of their own. The Chargers attempted to mount a comeback with two runs in the seventh, but fell short, dropping the game 6-3.
Gordie Theisen said the pitching staff has done well with finding the strike zone, but wants to see improvement in the ability to close out innings.
“We want to throw first pitch strikes. We want to get leadoff batters out, and we want to finish innings by stepping on throats and getting the third out,” he said. “That has been kind of a constant thing the last two weeks.
In the series’ final game, Ring opened the scoring with a first-inning home run, before the Dragons pushed across three unearned runs in the bottom half. Freshman left fielder Jake Rhodes added another Charger run in the top of the second with his second collegiate home run.
The Chargers then added three runs over the the sixth and seventh innings, with Ring and sophomore third baseman Colin Boerst each adding an RBI. Four Dragon runs in the bottom of the eighth, however, put the game out of reach for Hillsdale, who was only able to add one in the ninth on an RBI walk from sophomore centerfielder Michael Mitchell. In total, the Chargers left 12 men on base in the 9-6 loss.
After every tough weekend, however, there is an opportunity to rebound. Junior captain Ryan O’Hearn said this week has to be taken seriously.
“It’s early, but it’s obviously disappointing to get swept in your first GLIAC series,” he said. “The only thing you can do is learn from the mistakes we made in those games and use that as motivation. We should have our best practice this week — be busting butt on the field and in the weight room. It’s not really an option.”
The Chargers will head to Ashland University this weekend to face the Eagles in double headers on both Friday and Saturday.
