Close Calls the Norm for Eagles, Chargers Baseball on Saturday
April 12, 2003

Coming to a baseball field near you, “Close Encounters of the GLIAC Kind.”

Saturday (Apr. 12), that traveling baseball show came to Hillsdale, MI, where the Ashland University baseball team split a pair of one-run games with the Hillsdale Chargers.

The Chargers have been the surprise team in the early going in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. At this point, HC would be considered the most improved team in the league. If the Chargers can maintain their current pace, they have an excellent chance to lock down the fourth and final playoff spot for the GLIAC tourney.

First things first, however. Saturday, the Eagles and Chargers opened their four-game weekend series with a pair of close calls. In the lid-lifter, the Chargers came from behind to post a 4-3 win. In the nightcap, AU scored twice in the top of the sixth inning for a 3-2 triumph.

Ashland is 21-10-1, 9-2-1 in conference play. The Chargers are 16-10 and 8-6.

Senior righty Ryan Hartzell was tagged with the first-game loss. Hartzell had a 3-1 lead heading to the bottom of the fourth inning. The Chargers scored twice in the frame to knot the score, 3-3 and pushed the winning run across in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Hartzell, now 3-4, went the distance, allowing four runs, two earned, in six innings. He walked gave up six hits – all singles. Hartzell walked four, struck out eight and hit three batters.

Hillsdale’s Ryan Anderson improved to 4-2 with a route-going performance. He scattered seven hits while walking one and striking out three.

The only AU player with more than one hit was senior designated hitter Brock Wiskochil, who was 2-for-3. Senior first baseman Butch Kaufman belted his second homer of the season and drove in all three runs.

Junior centerfielder Brandon Cornell and junior third baseman Eric McDaniel had two hits apiece in the second game. Both players hand an RBI. Cornell’s day included a double.

Senior righthander Jon Krugman improved to 4-2. He went 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits. Krugman walked five and had seven strikeouts before yielding to sophomore lefty Ryan Douglas. Douglas notched his first save of the season by getting the game’s final out via a strikeout.

Matt Dudek took the loss, falling to 2-3. The Eagles collected five hits.

The teams will play another twinbill on Sunday (Apr. 13) in Hillsdale.