The Hillsdale College baseball team knew it had a tough task ahead of them on Saturday, facing the potent lineup of 22nd-ranked Davenport on the road.
The Panthers showed why they're leading Division II in team batting average through 13 games in the contest against the Chargers, pounding out 22 hits and scoring in every single inning they batted in a 20-3 victory on Saturday.
While Davenport was pounding the ball coming into Saturday's game, five Hillsdale errors compounded the problem, with three of those coming in the first three innings where the Panthers built a 6-0 lead.
Hillsdale did get a run back in the top of the fourth when junior first baseman Rob Zurawski hit a solo home run to lead off the inning.
The Chargers then cut the deficit to 7-3 in the top of the fifth thanks to an RBI single by Danny Passinault, scoring Jake Rhodes, and a sacrifice fly by Cody Kanclerz to score Nick Stepke.
But Davenport answered right back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to regain a six-run edge, and then pulled away from there.
Joe Hardenbergh led Hillsdale at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a double, Zurawski went 2 for 4 with the aforementioned home run, and Brandon Todd added a double in his only plate appearance as well for the Chargers.
David Toth took the loss for Hillsdale, pitching three and two-thirds innings andstriking out four and walking three while conceding 10 hits and four earned runs.
Mark Bergeron pitched two innings of relief, striking out two and walking one, and Logan Simon, Paul Brophy and Will Gifford also pitched for the Chargers in the loss.
Hillsdale falls to 3-7 overall, and will finish the weekend series at Davenport on Sunday, with a seven-inning game at noon and and a nine-inning game to follow the conclusion of the first game.
PHOTO: Brad Monastiere