After a lopsided loss in the first game on Friday, the Hillsdale College baseball team rallied with a strong effort to take the second game and split the Chargers' first home doubleheader of the season against Malone.
In the nightcap, the Chargers came out guns blazing to try and salvage a split, riding an early 6-0 lead to a 7-4 victory over the Pioneers. Hillsdale took advantage of control issues by the Malone pitching staff to score twice in the first inning, loading the bases on a hit-by-pitch and two walks, with
Tyler Sowers driving in one run on a ground out and
Tyler Turner scoring another on a single.
Hillsdale scored a third run in the bottom of the second as
Aaron Jasiak led off the inning with a single, stole two bases and was driven in by
Nolan Coppens on a ground out. The Chargers seized full control of the game in the bottom of the third, scoring three times on a RBI single by
Billy Porotsky and sacrifice flies by Jasiak and
Gaard Swenson.
With a 6-0 lead, the Chargers were cruising until the fifth inning, when Malone staged a comeback, scoring four runs to cut Hillsdale's lead to 6-4. Porotsky hit a second RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to get a run back for the Chargers, and relievers
Patrick MacLean and
Josh Novak shut down Malone offensively over the final two innings, with MacLean pitching a 1-2-3 sixth inning and Novak striking out the side in the seventh to earn his third save of the season.
Porotsky was 2 for 3 with the two RBI singles to lead the Chargers at the plate, and
Ryan Wiehe added a single and a double as the Chargers were able to score seven runs on six hits thanks to solid baserunning.
Brenden Smith (2-2) earned the win for the Chargers on the mound, cruising through four scoreless innings with two strikeouts and a walk before giving way to MacLean after running into trouble in the fifth.
The win was an important one for the Chargers to bounce back from a 14-1 loss in the series opener early Friday afternoon. After being held scoreless in the first inning, Malone scored in each of the next four innings and put up nine runs in the fourth to pull away early for a one-sided victory. Hillsdale was able to plate a run to break the shutout in the bottom of the fifth after back-to-back singles by
Aaron Jasiak and
Gaard Swenson, but managed just three hits in the contest, not enough to counteract the offensive explosion by the Pioneers.
Jacob Pallo (1-3) took the loss for Hillsdale, going three and a third innings with three strikeouts and one walk, and
Collin Lange pitched three and two-thirds innings of relief for the Chargers, striking out four and walking five.
Hillsdale is now 8-11 on the season and remains above .500 in G-MAC play at 4-2 overall. The Chargers play two more against Malone tomorrow, Saturday, starting at noon in Lenda and Glenda Hill Stadium and TFO Partners Field to wrap up the weekend series, looking to stay in the G-MAC lead with a strong finish.
