LOST IN LEFT FIELD
Baseball hosted more conference games last weekend; they currently stand at 1-9 in the GLIAC and 8-14 overall
Nathan McClallen
Issue date: 4/2/09 Section: Sports
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Yesterday the Chargers dropped two more games against Grand Valley State University. They kept it close in both games before surrendering clumps of runs in the late innings, to lose 12-1 and 10-4, respectively.
Senior captain Brandon Hubbard said there was not much they could do defensively against such a great hitting team.
"We were talking about it in the dugout," he said. "Our pitchers were throwing well, but they were getting hits off of tough
Last Thursday Hillsdale lost two tight contests to Saginaw Valley State University away from home. Each game was lost by just one run, and the second went into extra innings.
The early game had a lot of offense to begin the game, as the Chargers were down 6-5 after three innings. From that point, Saginaw scored only one run, but it was enough to hold off Hillsdale's one run rally in the seventh.
Freshman Charlie Fisher pitched the entire second game. He gave up three runs in seven and one-third innings, with six strikeouts and only one walk. Hillsdale lost 3-2.
At the plate, senior Jesse Smith had a double and two runs scored, while junior Pat Krebs went 5-for-7 with a home run.
The team returned home Friday and Saturday for a series against Northwood University. Friday, the team jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never relinquished it for their first conference win of the season, 10-4. Krebs had two home runs, three runs scored and five RBI in the game.
Senior pitcher Scott Monterastelli was able to notch the win, after giving up only one earned run in seven and one-third innings of work.
Saturday proved to be a tough set of games for the Chargers. They were swept in the double-header by Northwood after holding the lead in both games.
The Chargers led 3-1 six innings into the early game but soon were overcome by five Northwood runs the sixth and seventh innings. Their rally in the final inning was cut short to end the game 6-4.
For the second game, the Chargers came out strong behind sophomore Brent Opland's home run to give them a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
Not long after, Northwood scored five runs to take the lead, capped off by a grand slam. From there, relief pitchers were in control, as they took the game into extra innings tied 5-5. Hillsdale freshman Will Tidwell pitched three perfect innings, then sophomore Jon Gregg took the game into the tenth.
Once Northwood scored in the top of the tenth, Hillsdale had a chance to tie it up at six. With one out, freshman Chris Stephens singles and was replaced by pinch-runner freshman Pat O'Hearn. Sophomore Jamie McNeil drew a walk to put runners on first and second. When senior catcher Ben Davis singled to left, O'Hearn was thrown out at the plate by a great defensive play to end the game.
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