Championship Bracket (PDF)
MASON, Ohio – Junior catcher Steven Ring ripped three home runs and had nine RBI in the grand finale as No. 3 North Division seed Hillsdale emerged as the last team standing in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Championship bracket on Saturday.
The 15th and final game of the playoffs belonged to head coach Eric Theisen and his Great Midwest champion Chargers, who pounded out 14 hits and toppled defending tournament title winner/South Division regular-season champ Kentucky Wesleyan, 15-2.
Kentucky Wesleyan didn’t go down without a fight, ultimately forcing the first ‘if necessary’ game in championship history to add to the intrigue that was building inside the confines of PRASCO Park.
Hillsdale went 4-1 in its first Great Midwest postseason experience to reach the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional as the league’s automatic qualifier.
Theisen took a double-cooler celebratory water bath in stride as his team poured out of the dugout when the final out settled into the glove of center field Ryan O’Hearn. The Chargers formed a memorable dog pile on the mound to complete a remarkable run at PRASCO Park.
Depleted rotations in low 80’s heat helped make PRASCO Park a hitter’s paradise as nine home runs left the yard in the final two games of the tournament. Batters from both sides found the power alleys with regularity as the stars shined.
The Panthers staved off elimination for the fourth time of this year’s bracket with a 13-9 win in Game 14, giving Todd Lillpop’s program one final chance to repeat. In the end though, playing seven games in just four days eventually took its toll as his players left it all on the field.
It was summed up as senior third baseman Andrew Kirkland, one of the conference’s top players in recent history, was pulled for a pinch hitter in the final moments and gave Lillpop an embrace at home plate. Kirkland then hugged his teammates while slowly making his way back into the dugout.
The Panthers emerged out of a slugfest as Kirkland homered and sophomore Joseph Burke ripped two home runs of his own to add to his conference single-season record total.
But Hillsdale’s Dante Toppi plated six runs in the championship series opener, including a three-run blast to the deepest part of the field in straight away center. He homered in both games, including a solo shot in the final.
Game two was a showcase for Ring, who set a new single-game conference record with 9 RBI. He homered in his first three at-bats and drove in another run with the bases loaded on a sacrifice fly.
The power from left-handed swinging Ring was on display as he parked a towering three-run shot off a southpaw that cleared the right-field bleachers. He had three home runs by the fourth inning.
Sophomore right-handed hurler Joe Hamrick followed up Andrew Verbrugge, Will Kruse, Chris Dunn and Phil Carey, in the rotation and delivered a championship-clinching start. Hamrick threw all seven innings for the winning decision with two runs on eight hits and one strikeout.
Eight teams started in Mason on Wednesday, but after winning a pair of one-run games, it became clear Hillsdale was here to stay. That scenario became more apparent when the Chargers generated 11 runs against Malone to move into the driver’s seat going into the championship series.
Hillsdale will go into the Midwest Regional with a 26-28 overall record after going 17-10 in the North Division standings. The NCAA Selection Show is Sunday at 10 p.m. ET.