SAUGET, Ill. – The Davenport baseball team completed a three-game weekend sweep of Hillsdale College by scores of 6-4 and 9-7 (8 innings) on Sunday.
James Rogers (2-0) picked up the win in relief in game one.
Luke LaLumia (1-0) only recorded two outs and walked three in game two, but got his first win.
Hunter Ruhstorfer collected five RBI in the doubleheader for Davenport.
How it Happened: The Panthers picked up a pair of two-run wins on a blustery Sunday on a neutral field against Hillsdale (3-7). The first game was scoreless through four innings when the Panthers got a run on the board in the top of the fifth.
Dylan Watson smacked his first home run of the season with one out to left field.
Davenport went up 2-0 in the top of the seventh as Watson drove in another run courtesy of a single to right which scored
Noah Marcoux from second.
Taylor Turner was cruising through six innings but ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh. Hillsdale scored four times to take a 4-2 lead. He finished with 6.2 innings and allowed six hits. He also yielded two earned runs with three walks and seven strikeouts.
James Rogers struck out the final batter of the seventh and got run support in the top of the eighth. DU scored four times to take a 6-4 lead.
Jake Bozzo lifted a solo home run to left to lead-off the inning and cut the deficit to 4-3. Ruhstorfer drove a double and tied the game at 4.
Alex Huard sacrificed home the winning run and Ruhstorfer scored on a passed ball to make it 6-4. Rogers gave up one hit in the eighth and retired the Chargers in order in the ninth.
The second game saw Davenport score three in the top of the first and Hillsdale answer with two. Ruhstorfer hit a three-run homer to left field and Hillsdale plated two against DU starter
Cal Djuraskovic. Cal was replaced in the second by
Pete Zeimis. He tossed three innings and allowed no runs with two walks.
Davenport took a 5-2 lead in the top of the fifth.
Jacob Buchberger singled and stole second with two outs. Marcoux was hit by a pitch and Huard doubled to center for two RBI on the play.
Evan Maize relieved Zeimis but lasted only 0.2 innings and gave up four runs. Matt Granzotto had the big hit with a three-run homer to right making it 6-5 in favor of Hillsdale.
The second game was scheduled for seven innings and in the top of the seventh it was DU scoring twice to take a 7-6 lead.
Nolan Bryant tripled and Ruhstorfer doubled to left to score Bryant. Marcoux then drove home Ruhstorfer on a single to right. Hillsdale sent it to extra innings as
Luke LaLumia came into pitch with one out. A wild pitch brought home the tying run and then LaLumia stranded the bases loaded.
Matt Houle doubled to left to start the eighth and Bryant delivered the winning runs on a two-run home run with two outs to right field. The bottom half of the inning featured
Cole Sanderson walking the first two batters.
Duncan Gillett got two outs and issued a walk to load the bases. Buchberger scooted over from third base and nailed down the save by getting a strikeout to end the game. Hillsdale left 13 runners on base in game two.
Panther Notes: Ruhstorfer led the team with five RBI during the three-game series. Davenport batted .232 in the series and held Hillsdale to a .198 batting average. Buchberger went 5-of-13 at the plate with seven runs and 3-for-3 in steals. Bryant also scored seven runs in the series and hit two home runs with four RBI.
On Deck: Davenport will be welcoming Cornerstone University (6-11) for their first home games of the season on Friday, March 15. The first pitch of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m.
