Box Score SUNDAY RECAP
Game 2 box score: Hillsdale 17, Tiffin 5
Another wild day of baseball unfolded for the Chargers Sunday in Tiffin, Ohio, where the team put up another impressive offensive display, and had its second game suspended due to darkness.
Hillsdale avenged its Saturday loss to the Dragons in 17-5 win in Sunday's opener, which was delayed starting by two hours due to a frozen tarp.
Sunday's previously scheduled second game saw Hillsdale hold a 12-8 lead through six full innings when the umpires called the game due to darkness. That game, along with the fourth game of the teams' weekend series, will be completed Tuesday at Tiffin.
Hillsdale's 10th double-digit run game of the season came thanks to a pair of seven-run innings, in the fifth and seventh frames. Hillsdale's great offensive start to the season is due in part to its experienced senior class, but in this game, it was a freshman who led the way.
Second baseman Jacob Hoover went 4-for-5 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI, setting a new career-high for hits in a game. His pop, coming in the eighth position in the order, was key to Hillsdale sustaining its rallies in the victory.
Senior Chris McDonald belted his fourth home run of the season as part of a 4-RBI day for the Chargers. Seniors Luke Ortel and Tad Sobieszczanski each had three hits and catcher Joe Gentile had 2 RBI.
Sophomore pitcher Will Kruse got through all seven innings, striking out five while walking just one, yielding four earned runs in a solid effort on the mound. Just as important as his low runs allowed total were his seven innings, saving Hillsdale's bullpen after it was taxed in Saturday's loss.
SATURDAY RECAP
Game 1 box score: Tiffin 26, Hillsdale 10
Game 2: postponed due to rain
The wind was blowing out Saturday afternoon, and the offense piled up for both teams in the GLIAC matchup between Hillsdale College and Tiffin University.
The Dragons got the better of it, winning the opener 26-10. The second game was postponed due to rain. Games across the GLIAC were cancelled and postponed due to snow, cold and violent wind throughout Michigan and Ohio Saturday afternoon.
The two teams are scheduled to play two Sunday starting at noon at Tiffin.
The Dragons pushed 13 runs across the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning to turn the game into a runaway.
On the Hillsdale side, senior outfielder Luke Ortel's fourth-inning RBI triple enabled him to break the single-season school record for triples. His seventh of the season and 14th of his career – also a school record – brought home Joe Gentile. Ortel would later score off a single by Chris McDonald, making the score 6-3. Tiffin then blew up in the bottom half of that inning.
Ortel later hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, and a solo shot in the seventh, allowing him to finish the day 3-for-5 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored.
Eric Shankin crushed his first career home run, a two-run blast in the seventh that scored freshman Steven Ring. McDonald was 2-for-4 with a run scored and a run batted in.
