HILLSDALE, Michigan – The Lake Erie baseball team traveled to Michigan to begin G-MAC north division play against the Hillsdale Chargers. Hillsdale would jump out to an early lead in game one and hold for an 8-3 win. Lake Erie would comeback for the 2-1 victory in a low scoring game two. The Chargers would produce their own comeback as they would take a 7-6 extra innings victory in game three. Hillsdale would take the series with a comfortable 8-3 victory in game four.
 
Team Records
 
Lake Erie: 17-14 (9-7)
Hillsdale: 17-15 (10-6) 
 
Game Recaps
 
Game 1:
Hillsdale- 8
Lake Erie- 3
 
Hillsdale would jump out to an early lead in the first, scoring three runs on a hit and an error for a 3-0 lead. The Chargers would tack on two more runs in the third for a 5-0 lead. Hillsdale would add on two more runs in the fourth and fifth for a 7-0 lead. Lake Erie would get their first runs on the board in the seventh, putting three runs up with an RBI groundout from Israel Espinosa and an RBI single from Micah Geise to cut the deficit to 7-3. The Chargers would answer back with one in the bottom half, growing their lead back to 8-3. The Storm would threaten in the ninth with runners on second and third but were stranded and Hillsdale would take game one 8-3.   
 
W: Daniel Higdon (3-2) - 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BBs, K
L: Robert Helt (4-3) - 4.1 IP, 5 H, 7 R (4 ER), 5 BBs, 2 Ks
S: Drew Erdei (1) – 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, BB, 0 Ks
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 9, Chargers- 8
Walks: Storm- 5, Chargers- 8
Strikeouts: Storm- 1, Chargers- 5
Stolen Bases: Storm- 2, Chargers- 1
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 8, Chargers- 5
Strikeouts: Storm- 5, Chargers- 1
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 0, Chargers- 2
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 2, Chargers- 0
 
Game 1 Top Storm Performers: 
 
Soph. Micah Geise: 2-5, 2 RBI
Sr. Alex Jones: 2-3, R, BB, SB
Soph. Jaxson Christ: 2-4, BB
 
Game 2:
Lake Erie- 2
Hillsdale- 1
 
Runs would be hard to come by in game two. Hillsdale would take the early 1-0 lead in the first. The Chargers would next threaten in the fourth and fifth, getting runners on second and third each time, but would plate no runs. Lake Erie would get on the board in the sixth with an RBI double from Garrett Esposito to tie the game at 1-1. The Storm would take the first lead of the day in the seventh with an RBI walk from Mitchel Szymczak for a 2-1 lead. Brandon Metivier would close the door in the seventh as Lake Erie would take game two 2-1. 
 
W: Colin Neimeister (2-0) – 1.2 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 BBs, 0 Ks
L: Patrick MacLean (0-1) – 1.0 IP, H, ER, 2 BBs, 0 Ks
S: Brandon Metivier (5) – 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BBs, K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 11, Chargers- 11
Walks: Storm- 8, Chargers- 5
Strikeouts: Storm- 7, Chargers- 8
Stolen Bases: Storm- 2, Chargers- 5
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 5, Chargers- 8
Strikeouts: Storm- 8, Chargers- 7
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 2, Chargers- 2
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 1, Chargers- 0
 
Game 2 Top Storm Performers:
 
Soph. Jaxson Christ: 2-3, BB
Sr. Garrett Esposito: 1-4, 2B, RBI, K
R-Soph. Mitchel Szymczak: 0-1, RBI, 3 BBs
 
Game 3:
Hillsdale- 7
Lake Erie- 6
(8 Innings)
 
Lake Erie would jump out to an early 3-0 lead in the first with an RBI double from Jaxson Christ and an RBI groundout from Garrett Esposito. Hillsdale would answer back with one run in the bottom half, bringing the score to 3-1. The Chargers tied the game at 3-3 in the third scoring two runs on one hit. The Storm would answer back in the fourth with one run on an RBI double from Seth Yacobucci, to put the Storm back in front 4-3. Hillsdale would tie the game back at 4-4 in the fifth. Lake Erie answered right back in the sixth for two runs on an RBI single from Yacobucci, to put them back up 6-4. The Chargers would force extra innings as they would put two runs up in the seventh to tie the game at 6-6. Hillsdale would finish the comeback in the eighth on a sacrifice fly to steal game three 7-6.
 
W: Andrew George (2-1) – 2.1 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 BBs, 2 Ks
L: Brandon Metivier (1-1) – 1.1 IP, H, 1 R (0 ER), BB, K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 4, Chargers- 11
Walks: Storm- 2, Chargers- 6
Strikeouts: Storm- 5, Chargers- 5
Stolen Bases: Storm- 2, Chargers- 0
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 6, Chargers- 2
Strikeouts: Storm- 5, Chargers- 5
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 3, Chargers- 1
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 0, Chargers- 2
 
Game 3 Top Storm Performers:
 
R-Fr. Seth Yacobucci: 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI, SB
Soph. Jaxson Christ: 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R
Sr. Garrett Esposito: 1-4, RBI
 
Game 4:
Hillsdale- 8
Lake Erie- 3
 
Hillsdale continued their game three momentum, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead in the first. Lake Erie would take a 3-2 lead in the third with an RBI single from Micah Geise and an RBI triple from Jaxson Christ. The Chargers would tie it in the bottom half at 3-3, taking advantage of an error. Hillsdale would take a 5-3 lead in the fourth with two runs on three hits. Hillsdale kept piling on as they grew their lead to 8-3 in the fifth. The Storm would be held silent the last two innings and the Chargers would take game four 8-3 to secure a series victory.
 
W: Brandon Scott (4-3) – 5.0 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 5 BBs, 5 Ks
L: Gregory Kennedy (2-2) – 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 ER), 2 BBs, K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 5, Chargers- 8
Walks: Storm- 6, Chargers- 3
Strikeouts: Storm- 6, Chargers- 1
Stolen Bases: Storm- 2, Chargers- 4
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 3, Chargers- 6
Strikeouts: Storm- 1, Chargers- 6
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 1, Chargers- 1
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 1, Chargers- 0
 
Game 4 Top Storm Performers:
 
Soph. Jaxson Christ: 1-2, 3B, 2 RBI, K
Soph. Micah Geise: 1-3, RBI, R, K
 
Series Evaluation
 
Pitching Falters: Despite the game two win, the Lake Erie pitching staff struggled in the series. In the games lost, the ERA was a combined 7.72, well above their season ERA at 5.17. Strikeouts were also down for the staff as they only had 19 in the four-game series, down from their first three G-MAC series average of 39 strikeouts. Despite this weekend's struggles, the staff still leads the conference in strikeouts (289) and batting average against (.229).
 
Offense Gets Silenced: The Storm offense struggled at the plate this weekend, hitting .185 in the four-game series. Coming into the weekend, the Storm offense hit .262 and are now hitting .254, 10th in the G-MAC. 
 
Momentum Halted: Coming into this series, Lake Erie won two straight series and was 8-4 in the G-MAC. Lake Erie is currently ranked 9th in the Midwest region in the latest NCBWA poll released on April 2nd.
 
Series History
 
Lake Erie's series defeat brings their all-time record to 20-25 against Hillsdale. Lake Erie's last series victory against Hillsdale came at home in 2015. 
 
Up Next
 
Lake Erie will head back to Michigan to face Northwood University beginning on Saturday, April 12th. 
 
Northwood is currently 21-10 overall and 16-0 in the G-MAC. Northwood is currently on a 16-game winning streak, having opened G-MAC play sweeping their first four series at Thomas More and Malone, and at home against Kentucky Wesleyan and Tiffin. Northwood is also currently ranked 7th in the Midwest region in the latest NCBWA poll. In the 2025 G-MAC preseason poll, the Timberwolves were voted to finish second in the north division. 
 
Northwood currently leads the G-MAC in batting average (.300) and ERA (4.06) along with being 3rd in fielding percentage (.968 with 31 errors).