TIFFIN, Ohio – A big sixth inning and great pitching from freshman Tyler Wehrle earned Tiffin baseball a 5-1 win in game two and a split with Hillsdale College on Monday afternoon. The Chargers took game one 5-4.
Kyle Vance had a day at the plate, going 4-8 with three runs scored, a walk, and a clutch two-out, two-RBI single in the second game.
Jake Monnin got the start on the mound for the Dragons, and ran into a bit of trouble early in the top of the first. Hillsdale's Jake Hoover led off with a double to right and was brought home on Steven Ring's two-run homer to left.
Monnin settled down after that, putting zeros on the scoreboard through the next three frames. The Chargers' Andrew Verbrugge pitched well, blanking the Dragons through four.
Hillsdale added two more runs in the top of the fifth, though, taking a 4-0 lead. TU got one back in the bottom of the inning, as Kyle Vance singled with two outs and came all the way around from first to score on a Brayden Callihan double down the right-field line.
In the top of the seventh, Verbrugge got two quick outs but then gave up a single to Vance and walked Campbell. David Toth came in to pitch for the Chargers, and proceeded to hit John Heckman and then issue three-straight bases-loaded walks to even the score at four.
Hillsdale took the lead back in the top of the ninth, though, as the leadoff hitter reached on an error and came in to score on a one-out single. The Dragons got a runner in scoring position in their half of the ninth, but could not tally the tying run as the Chargers won 5-4.
Game two began as a pitcher's dual, with the Dragons' Tyler Wehrle and the Chargers' Jonathan Lapshan trading zeroes on the scoreboard through the first three innings.
Wehrle worked another scoreless fourth, but Tiffin was able to push across a run in the bottom of the inning. Colin BeDell got on base with a two-out single and was brought home all the way from first on a Kole Klasic double off the wall in left.
After setting the Chargers down again in the fifth, Wehrle got in his first jam of the game in the top of the sixth as Jake Hoover doubled to lead off the frame and advanced to third on a lineout to right. Hoover would score on a wild pitch during the next at-bat, though, tying the score at one apiece.
Tiffin answered right back, getting a run on a throwing error before Vance roped a two-run single past the pitcher and into center field, putting TU up by three. Heckman added an RBI single before the inning was over, putting the Dragons up 5-1.
Wehrle came back out for the seventh and worked around a hit-by-pitch to retire the side and earn his second win of the season. The freshman's final line read 7.0 innings, four hits, one run, and six strikeouts.
The Dragons and Chargers will play two more tomorrow, as games three and four of the series are set to get underway at 1:00 p.m.