Baseball: Chargers’ season comes to an end

by Jason Schneider

The Dow High varsity baseball team’s season came to an end at Saturday’s Regional tournament in Flushing as the host Raiders rallied late to earn a 9-7 victory over the Chargers.

After winning last week’s District tournament and upsetting Bay City Western and rival Midland High along the way, the Chargers’ luck ran out as they were unable to get important outs or pick up key hits when they needed them the most.

“Today we fell short of it,” said Dow High coach Kip Harris after the game. “But we had about four or five times where we fought pretty hard. They’re not too happy about the outcome, but it was a good effort.”

The game featured seven lead changes as both teams battled back-and-forth all morning. But the Raiders would score two runs in the sixth inning to take the lead and add an insurance run in the seventh to put the game away.

Early on, though, it looked like the Chargers would continue their tourney run as Dow scored two runs in the first on a pair of doubles by Brett Lechner and Tim McDonald to take a 2-1 lead. The Chargers would leave three stranded, though, as a popup and strikeout ended a bases-loaded rally for Dow.

“When you have the bases loaded with one out you need to get a run out of that,” Harris said. “That’s what you need to do to win Districts and Regionals and have success in the playoffs.”

The two teams continued to battle as the Raiders took a 3-2 lead in the top of the third before the Chargers came back to tie the game on a long home run to right-center by McDonald. Michael Allen drove in another run with a single to left, giving the Chargers a one-run lead.

But the lead was quickly erased as Flushing scored three runs with two outs in the top of the fourth to put the Raiders up 6-4.

With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Dow took advantage of some pitching mistakes by Raiders’ starter Tim Simpson, who gave up a single and two walks with two outs that loaded the bases for cleanup hitter Matt Skirving.

“I knew it would be a situation where we needed runs, so I just wanted to stay back and drive the ball,” Skirving said.

And drive the ball he did. Skirving laced a hanging curve down the line in right that cleared the bases and gave the Chargers a 7-6 lead.

Yet the Raiders would battle back again, forcing Harris to lift starting pitcher Brett Lechner in favor of McDonald. McDonald didn’t fare much better, though, as the Raiders promptly tied the game on a single to right and plated the go-ahead run on a force out to give Flushing an 8-7 lead. The Raiders added another in the seventh and the Chargers would go down in order in their half of the inning as Flushing advanced to the championship game.

“You have to give them a lot of credit,” Skirving said. “They made the plays, they hit the ball well. They were a better team today.”

Dow finishes the season with a record of 20-15.

The loss ends a tough week for Dow as sophomore pitcher Torri Nelson suffered serious injuries in a car accident Saturday night after the Chargers won Districts. Nelson was hospitalized several days but was released Wednesday.

“Was [the accident] a distraction? No,” Harris said. “Was it a concern? Yes. He’s definitely on our minds.”

After the game, Harris gathered the players and discussed the loss, but more importantly discussed what the team can learn from the game and the season in general.

“I told them it’s a lot more than baseball when it comes down to it,” he said. “Throughout the year, when we got down a lot, we still had that fight in us to come back. That’s going to carry over for them in life, too. There’s going to be a lot of times when they have to go through some rough spots. Those are the times that are going to define them as individuals.”