The baseball team lost 10-3 to Davenport University in Grand Rapids on Tuesday, following a weekend in which the Chargers split a pair of doubleheaders at home with Great Midwest Athletic Conference leader Northwood University on Friday and Saturday, with a 5-0 loss and 6-1 win Friday and 1-0 win and a 6-2 loss on Saturday.
Friday started with a 5-0 loss, but the Chargers rallied and came back for the nightcap, with freshman Will Lehman hitting a two-run home run with two outs to score sophomore Rocco Tenuta. Sophomore Aaron Jasiak had four hits from his five at-bats over the course of the two games Friday, leading the Chargers offensively.
On Saturday, sophomore pitcher Jacob Pallo led the Chargers to the win by pitching a complete seven-inning game and allowing only one hit. Hillsdale’s defense backed Pallo up with an error-free performance and a timely double play to end a threat in the top of the fourth. According to head coach Tom Vessella, Pallo’s breakthrough has been a long time coming.
“We always knew that Jacob had the potential to pitch like he did against Northwood,” Vessella said. “He has had some really good starts and others that we’d all like to forget, but he has done a fantastic job this season with his preparation and simply focusing on his next start for the team.”
Pallo was named the G-MAC North Division baseball Athlete of the Week for his performance over the weekend. Pallo said through this season, especially with the close losses, he has confidence to reach the championship game.
“The main challenges for me have been consistency on the mound and throwing strikes,” Pallo said. “I have had some good outings and a couple of bad ones. The way I worked through them was by staying true to my style of pitching. Short-term memory is also how I have been able to overcome some of the challenges. Yes, bad days happen, and it’s good to have the drive to get better, but not dwelling on it is important too.”
Assisting in the one-run win were back-to-back singles by Tenuta and freshman Gaard Swenson. After an error by Northwood and a sacrifice fly by senior Zak Kent, Swenson was brought in for the only run of the game.
According to Swenson, this win has helped the morale of the team as they look to the G-MAC championship tournament.
“Looking to the end of the season, I hope that we make it to Prasco Park in Cincinnati and show the rest of the conference how good our team is by putting up a tough fight in the tournament,” Swenson said.
The Chargers are now No. 4 in the G-MAC standings with a 14-10 conference record.
Hillsdale will travel to Tiffin University to play the Dragons in a four-game series on April 23-24. Then, the Chargers will play another four-game series against the Ashland University Eagles at home May 2-3 to round out their regular season.
