Junior Jacob Pallo throws a pitch in the first game against Malone. Courtesy | Hillsdale Athletic Department
The Hillsdale baseball team won three of four games on the road against Thomas More University March 14-15 and two of four games at home against Malone University March 20-21 to begin conference play with a 5-3 record.
The Chargers opened the series against Thomas More with an 11-8 comeback win. After six innings, Hillsdale fell behind 8-5, but rallied in the last three innings to take the lead on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Gaard Swenson in the top of the ninth inning.
Sophomore pitcher Josh Novak struck out two in a scoreless inning to earn the save.
After a 5-3 loss in the second game, the Chargers closed the series with a 7-4 third-game win and a 20-10 fourth-game win.
“The offense has been great so far in our first two conference series,” Swenson said. “For the most part, we’ve been able to keep our composure and get huge hits in key spots late in the game.”
After a 14-1 loss to Malone in the home opener Friday, the Chargers came back with a 7-4 win later in the evening. The team also secured a 6-4 win Saturday afternoon, with Swenson hitting a two-run double to break a tie in the sixth inning.
Senior pitcher Patrick MacLean worked around trouble in the top of the seventh inning to pitch a scoreless inning and earn the save.
“Pat MacLean and Josh Novak have been stellar in relief the past few weeks,” head coach Tom Vessella said. “We feel very confident if we can get a lead going into the later innings.”
Over the break, Novak pitched five scoreless innings, striking out six and picking up three saves, while MacLean pitched five and a third innings, striking out eight and earning a save while only surrendering two runs.
“I feel really good right now,” Novak said. “Especially coming after surgery, recovering after throwing is just a day or two behind, but my arm’s been catching up lately. The velocity is slowly coming up. It’s hopefully going to keep getting better.”
Novak said he was happy with the team’s ability to recover after the first game of the series.
“Losing that first game by a ton of runs and then being able to bounce back and play well consistently for the next three games shows some resilience,” Novak said. “Even though we lost the last game, we played pretty well. The hitters ran into a lot of barrels that got caught and the pitchers did a really good job of limiting hard contact. It’s impressive bouncing back from a really bad loss like that to at least salvage a series.”
The series against Malone closed with a 15-inning marathon that saw both teams scoreless after nine innings.
Both teams scored a run in the 10th, three in the 11th, and one in both the 12th and 13th inning. After a scoreless 14th, Malone broke through with two runs in the top of the 15th to take an 8-6 victory.
“The team definitely played better in our first two conference series, but I believe it still has a lot of room to grow,” Vessella said. “We have yet to fire in all three aspects of the game, and there is no telling how good we can be once we figure that out.”
The Chargers will play another home series March 27-29 against Ohio Dominican University.
“It’s always great playing at home and long overdue,” Vessella said. “Playing the first six weeks of the season on the road with long bus rides can wear on a team. Everything’s better when you get a home series, especially playing in our stadium.”
