\n
\n Story Links
\n
<\/p>\n
Schedule Hillsdale starts with four contests this Saturday and Sunday against the Lake Erie Storm, played at Classic Park in the Cleveland suburbs. After just missing the G-MAC Tournament in 2025 with the program’s best season since 2019, Lake Erie got 2026 off to a rough start and sit at 7-24, but with six G-MAC wins in 16 contests, the Storm are still very much in the hunt for a G-MAC berth and with everything to play for in the month of April.<\/p>\n Lake Erie’s strength is a decent pitching rotation headlined by veteran Dominic Poltrone, who is in his fourth season as a starter for the Storm and has become the team’s ace with a team-best 41 Ks and a 5.62 ERA. Purdue transfer Luke Reasor has been the Storm’s other consistent starter, with a 6.02 ERA and multiple wins. The Storm have struggled to lock down the other two starting spots, with eight other pitchers making at least one start and none more than three. In the Storm’s most recent weekend series with Ashland, Zavior Esquivel and Tanner O’Farrell were the other two starters for Lake Erie. The Storm’s top bullpen arms are Hunter Bays, who has Lake Erie’s best ERA (4.58) and two saves, while Trent Gardner, Ethan Hendrickson, Owen Sullivan and Neeko Spicer are also frequently deployed.<\/p>\n Lake Erie’s real struggle has been offensively, where the Storm are last in the G-MAC in virtually every category, including 40 points worse than 11th place with a .212 batting average. That said, the Storm have been considerably better in G-MAC play, and seem to be improving at the plate as the season wears on. The Storm’s only regular batting over .300 is catcher and JuCo transfer Brendan Hazuda. Fellow JuCo transfer Matt Fountain, a big outfielder, and holdovers Micah Geise and Ty Sowers are all double-digit RBI players for the Storm as well.<\/p>\n The Chargers return home on Tuesday for a significant challenge against Wayne State, who’s receiving votes in the ABCA poll and just split with then #6 Grand Valley State this past weekend. The Warriors, always a regional contender, started the season on a tear to leap into the national rankings, and have cooled off a bit now that they’re in conference competition but still remain formidable at 23-7 overall.<\/p>\n Wayne State brings an elite and productive offense to Hillsdale. Junior rightfielder Drew Hill has been one of the region’s best players, hitting .422 with a 1.222 OPS and a team-leading 30 RBIs, while returning All-GLIAC senior Bennett Hitzelberger and junior Owen Tuccinardi each have 20+ RBIs and six home runs as well. Caleb Sanders is also a returning All-GLIAC honoree, with Rhett Roeser and Nick Sandiha Jr. also off to strong starts for a team that’s among the GLIAC’s best in terms of power.<\/p>\n The Warriors also have been solid on the mound with an impressive 3.63 ERA. In a midweek contest, Hillsdale is unlikely to see any of Wayne State’s top four starters, but could face Tusculum transfer Phillip Miller or JuCo transfers Nick Baker and Macio Miller who all have made a start for the Warriors this season. Top bullpen arms for the Warriors include closer Rocco Cardinale, who has a win and four saves in seven appearances, senior TJ McAllister, who has yet to give up an earned run in 10 innings, and Will DeMasse.<\/p>\n Hillsdale is looking to get on a winning streak after going .500 through the first four weekends of conference play. The Chargers have been solid offensively, leading the G-MAC in batting average and ranking third in RBIs in conference play with six regulars hitting above .300. Rocco Tenuta<\/a> remains the team’s top power bat with 15 extra base hits and a team-best .976 OPS and 32 RBIs, but leadoff hitter Gaard Swenson<\/a> is close behind with a .932 OPS and 27 RBIs and freshman Nolan Coppens<\/a> has a .929 OPS and a team-high 12 doubles as well. Jake Figman<\/a>, Tyler Turner<\/a> and Aaron Jasiak<\/a> are all batting over .300 as well for the Chargers, while Billy Porotsky<\/a> is hitting .290 and Carson Tucker<\/a> has been impressive with a .342 average in spot situations as well. Swenson and Jasiak are dangerous base-stealers for Hillsdale, with 25 stolen bags between them.<\/p>\n The Chargers’ struggles have been on the mound, where injuries and youth have made consistency a challenge all season. Sophomore Brenden Smith<\/a> has been a find on the mound for Hillsdale, with a team best 2.97 ERA that ranks among the G-MAC’s best, while veteran starters Logan McLaughlin<\/a> and Jacob Pallo<\/a> have both shown the capacity for strong starts. Hillsdale is still looking to shore up its fourth starting spot, with freshmen Jeff Klominek<\/a> and Isaac Scavarda<\/a> both getting opportunities through the first seven weeks.<\/p>\n In the bullpen, senior Patrick MacLean<\/a> has been the top reliever for the Chargers, with two wins, two saves and a solid 1.82 ERA, while Josh Novak<\/a> has been a dependable closer for Hillsdale, with three saves and a 3.00 ERA in 12 appearances as well. Hayden Hoffpauir<\/a>, Winston Delp<\/a>, Aaron Jasiak<\/a>, Collin Lange<\/a> and Nate Albanese<\/a> are other frequently used bullpen arms that Hillsdale can turn to this week.<\/p>\n Hillsdale has a tight series with Lake Erie overall, going 25-20 against the Storm since 2011, but the Chargers have had the better of things recently, with a 14-2 record against the Storm in the last four series, including 3-1 records in both 2024 and 2025. Hillsdale’s history with Wayne State, dating back to both teams’ GLIAC days, is heavily in favor of the Warriors, who have a 73-35 record against the Chargers since 1993. Wayne State took three of four from Hillsdale in the most recent series between the two squads, in February of 2025.
\nHillsdale College (13-18, 8-8 G-MAC) at Lake Erie (7-24, 6-10 G-MAC) | 1 p.m. ET Saturday, April 11 | Classic Park \u2013 Eastlake, Ohio
\nHillsdale College (13-18, 8-8 G-MAC) at Lake Erie (7-24, 6-10 G-MAC) | 4 p.m. ET Saturday, April 11 | Classic Park \u2013 Eastlake, Ohio
\nHillsdale College (13-18, 8-8 G-MAC) at Lake Erie (7-24, 6-10 G-MAC) | 1 p.m. ET Sunday, April 12 | Classic Park \u2013 Eastlake, Ohio
\nHillsdale College (13-18, 8-8 G-MAC) at Lake Erie (7-24, 6-10 G-MAC) | 4 p.m. ET Sunday, April 12 | Classic Park \u2013 Eastlake, Ohio
\nRV Wayne State (23-7, 7-5 GLIAC) at Hillsdale College (13-18, 8-8 G-MAC) | 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, April 14 | Lenda and Glenda Hill Stadium and TFO Partners Field \u2013 Hillsdale, Michigan
\n\u00a0
\nLinks
\nHillsdale Roster<\/a> | Lake Erie Roster<\/a> | Wayne State Roster<\/a> | Hillsdale Stats<\/a> | Lake Erie Stats<\/a> | Wayne State Stats<\/a> | G-MAC Standings<\/a> | G-MAC Stats<\/a>
\n\u00a0
\nPreview
\nSitting at .500 in the G-MAC, Hillsdale looks to solidify its spot in the standings and in the tournament with a strong road weekend at Lake Erie, ahead of a tough midweek home contest against a Wayne State team that’s receiving votes in the ABCA NCAA DII poll.<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Story Links
Schedule Hillsdale College (13-18, 8-8 G-MAC) at Lake Erie (7-24, 6-10 G-MAC) | 1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-162462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}