EASTLAKE, Ohio – The Lake Erie baseball team hosted senior day during their home series against the Hillsdale Chargers. The Storm began the series on a high note, taking a low-scoring 2-1 victory in game one. The Chargers would take game two 9-4. Extra innings would be needed in game three and Hillsdale would put up four in the eighth to take game three 5-1. Lake Erie would threaten for a walk-off, but the bases were left loaded, giving Hillsdale a 4-3 game four win to secure the series.
Team Records
Lake Erie: 8-27 (7-13)
Hillsdale: 16-19 (11-9)
Game Recaps
Game 1:
Lake Erie- 2
Hillsdale- 1
The Storm would open the series with a quick 2-0 lead after the first with an RBI double from
Travis Yankovich. The Chargers would get on the board in the sixth, cutting their deficit to 2-1.
Hunter Bays would come to secure the save, giving Lake Erie a low-scoring 2-1 win in game one.
W: Ethan Hendrickson (2-2) - 3.0 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 BB, K
L: Brenden Smith (3-4) - 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 5 K
S: Hunter Bays (3) – 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, BB, K
Key Team Stats:
Batting-
Runners Left on Base:
Storm- 7, Chargers- 11
Walks:
Storm- 6, Chargers- 8
Strikeouts:
Storm- 8, Chargers- 6
Stolen Bases:
Storm- 2, Chargers- 0
Pitching-
Walks:
Storm- 8, Chargers- 6
Strikeouts:
Storm- 6, Chargers- 8
Hit by Pitches:
Storm- 3, Chargers- 2
Fielding-
Errors:
Storm- 1, Chargers- 1
Game 1 Top Storm Performers:
Jr. Travis Yankovich: 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, HBP
Sr. Ethan Hendrickson: 3.0 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 BB, K
R-Soph. Matt Fountain: 1-3, R, BB, SB
Game 2:
Hillsdale- 9
Lake Erie- 4
The Chargers would pull ahead first in game two, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. The Storm would take the lead in the fourth, putting up a four spot with an RBI single from
Hunter Aurand and an RBI double from
Dominic Roberts. Hillsdale answered back in the fifth, putting up their own four spot to retake the lead 6-4. The Chargers would tack on three more in the sixth, growing their lead to 9-4. Lake Erie would threaten in the seventh, but two runners would be stranded as the Chargers would take game two 9-4.
W: Jacob Pallo (3-3) - 6.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, BB, 6 K
L: Dominic Poltrone (1-7) - 4.2 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Key Team Stats:
Batting-
Runners Left on Base:
Storm- 4, Chargers- 9
Walks:
Storm- 1, Chargers- 4
Strikeouts:
Storm- 6, Chargers- 10
Stolen Bases:
Storm- 0, Chargers- 1
Pitching-
Walks:
Storm- 4, Chargers- 1
Strikeouts:
Storm- 10, Chargers- 6
Hit by Pitches:
Storm- 3, Chargers- 2
Fielding-
Errors:
Storm- 0, Chargers- 0
Game 2 Top Storm Performers:
R-Fr. Hunter Aurand: 1-2, RBI, R, HBP
Sr. Dominic Roberts: 1-3, 2B, 3 RBI
Game 3:
Hillsdale- 5
Lake Erie- 1
8 Innings
After the Storm threatened in the bottom of the second, the Chargers would put the first run of the game on the board in the third, taking a 1-0 lead. Lake Erie would tie the game at 1 in the fourth with an RBI single from
Hunter Aurand. Seven innings wouldn't be enough as game three would head into extras tied at 1. Hillsdale would take a commanding 5-1 lead in the eighth on four hits. The Storm would threaten in the bottom half getting runners on the corners, but each would be stranded as the Chargers would take game three 5-1 in extras.
W: Josh Novak (1-2) – 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
L: Hunter Bays (1-3) – 1.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R (3 ER), 0 BB, 0 K
Key Team Stats:
Batting-
Runners Left on Base:
Storm- 8, Chargers- 9
Walks:
Storm- 2, Chargers- 3
Strikeouts:
Storm- 8, Chargers- 3
Stolen Bases:
Storm- 2, Chargers- 0
Pitching-
Walks:
Storm- 3, Chargers- 2
Strikeouts:
Storm- 3, Chargers- 8
Hit by Pitches:
Storm- 1, Chargers- 1
Fielding-
Errors:
Storm- 2, Chargers- 0
Game 3 Top Storm Performers:
R-Fr. Hunter Aurand: 1-3, RBI, BB, K
Jr. Brendan Hazuda: 2-4, R, K
R-Fr. Luke Reasor: 6.2 IP, 4 H, ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Game 4:
Hillsdale- 4
Lake Erie- 3
The Chargers carried their momentum from game three to game four, going ahead early, scoring three runs across the first two innings. The Storm would get on the board with a two-run home run from
Ty Sowers, his third of the season to cut the deficit to 3-2. Hillsdale would tack on a run in the sixth to bring the score to 4-2. Lake Erie would load the bases with no outs in the seventh, but were only able to muster across one run on an RBI walk from
Teagan Williams, and the Chargers would hold on for a 4-3 win to take the series.
W: Logan McLaughlin (2-2) - 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K
L: Tanner O'Farrell (0-4) - 4.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
S: Nate Albanese (1) – 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
Key Team Stats:
Batting-
Runners Left on Base:
Storm- 11, Chargers- 5
Walks:
Storm- 9, Chargers- 4
Strikeouts:
Storm- 8, Chargers- 4
Stolen Bases:
Storm- 0, Chargers- 2
Pitching-
Walks:
Storm- 4, Chargers- 9
Strikeouts:
Storm- 4, Chargers- 8
Hit by Pitches:
Storm- 2, Chargers- 0
Fielding-
Errors:
Storm- 0, Chargers- 0
Game 4 Top Storm Performers:
Sr. Ty Sowers: 1-2, HR (3), 2 RBI, 2 R, 2 BB, K
Jr. Micah Geise: 1-4, 2B, R, K
Jr. Teagan Williams: 0-1, RBI, 3 BB, K
Series History
Lake Erie has now dropped or split six straight series against Hillsdale and are now 21-28 all-time against Hillsdale. The last series win against Hillsdale was during the 2018 season.
Up Next
Lake Erie will hold their final home series of the season against Northwood beginning on Saturday, April 11th.
Northwood is currently 14-20 overall and 11-9 in the G-MAC on the season. Recently, the Timberwolves split their road series at Tiffin. In the 2026 G-MAC preseason poll, Northwood was voted to finish 1st in the north division. Last season, Northwood won the G-MAC tournament and made an appearance in the College World Series, coming out of the Midwest region.
Northwood currently is 7th in the G-MAC in batting average (.279), 8th in ERA (6.07), and 10th in fielding percentage (.960 with 48 errors).
