There are moments in baseball where it feels like the outcome of the game is perched on a razor's edge, and could fall either way.

On Friday afternoon, the Hillsdale College baseball team owned both those moments to take down Indiana (PA) in a tight contest, 5-4, in Morgantown, West Virginia and win its third straight game.

In the bottom of the seventh, Hillsdale's Zak Kent was at the plate with the game tied at three runs apiece, two outs, a full count and runners at the corners. It was a golden opportunity for the Chargers to seize a late lead, but, if squandered, might burn Hillsdale's best chance to pull ahead.

Luckily for Hillsdale, the senior was up to the task, as Kent hit a line drive down the right field line for a triple that scored both runs and gave Hillsdale a 5-3 lead that would end up being decisive.

IUP, a veteran team with several players returning from a 2024 DII College World Series appearance, wasn't finished off with the clutch hit. Down to their final out in the top of the ninth, the Crimson Hawks scored a run to close the gap to a slim 5-4 advantage, and had the potential tying run at third and the go-ahead run at first in a mirror of the situation Hillsdale faced in the bottom of the seventh.

Logan McLaughlin, the Chargers' closer, was determined not to give IUP the same result Hillsdale had gotten in the seventh. In a pressure situation, McLaughlin shut the door, striking out the Crimson Hawks' Robert Carfango for his third strikeout of the inning and sealing the Chargers' 5-4 victory.

Excellence on the margins was critical for Hillsdale in a game decided by such slim ones. The Chargers were outhit 11-6 but made every opportunity count, taking advantage of two Crimson Hawks errors in the top of the first to pull ahead 1-0. Then, after IUP pulled ahead with a run in the third and two runs in the fifth to take 3-1 lead, Hillsdale scraped a run back in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI single by Tyler Sowers,and tied the game on a RBI single by Will Millard in the bottom of the sixth to set up Hillsdale's go-ahead inning in the bottom of the seventh.

Sowers was 2 for 3 with a RBI and two runs scored, and Kent went 2 for 4 with the two-run triple as well, as Hillsdale scored five runs on six hits. 

Hillsdale also put together arguably its best outing on the mound this season in the victory. Starter Daniel Higdon went six and two-thirds innings with seven strikeouts and two walks, giving up three runs but none of them earned. Andrew George (1-1) got the win in relief, striking out one batter, walking another and giving up no hits or runs in an inning and a third of action, and McLaughlin finished the game for his first save of the season, giving up two hits and one earned run but earning all three outs in the ninth by strikeout.

Hillsdale is now 3-5 overall and will play another contest against IUP tomorrow at 3 p.m. in Morgantown, looking to stay hot and move a step closer to .500 after a difficult start playing almost exclusively teams in the top 40 in the national rankings.

Photo by Steve George