Baseball: Chargers waste pitching to drop doubleheader

Despite solid pitching performances by two senior starters, the Midland Dow varsity baseball team was not able to take advantage and dropped the opener 9-5 in eight innings before falling in the nightcap 8-3 against the Oilers Thursday at Mount Pleasant.

“We faced a hard throwing pitcher in Higgins in that second game, and we looked very scared in most of our at bats…” said Dow coach Kip Harris. “You can’t expect to play the better teams in our league with an approach like that and have any kind of success.”

Sean Hartman took the hill for the Chargers in the opener, but had a little trouble with his control in the first inning walking two batters that would go on to score. But then he settled down and shut down the Oilers most of the way finishing with seven strikeouts, while allowing four earned runs in seven innings of work.

“Sean Hartman has now put together four very strong outings this year,” Harris said. “In each game he has pitched into the sixth inning or deeper. This is the first time in three years that you can see him make adjustments mid game, and he’s really getting a feel for what works for him.”

Offensively, Jon Knapp led Dow going 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The loss seemed to deflate the Chargers, but they turned to Nate Richard in the nightcap to try and revive them. The task was too big.

Richard struggled early , but settled down and shut down Mount Pleasant in the middle innings, finishing with six strikeouts and four walks, while allowing six earned runs on five hits.

“Although Nate Richard didn’t have his best stuff today, he bounced back after a rough first two innings and basically shut down Mount Pleasant for the next three innings,” Harris said. “It’s great to see seniors showing a little fight. I just hope that mentality gets picked up by others.”

Andrew Seer and Zach Stidham led Dow offensively, going 1-for-3.

The Chargers’ record falls to 7-4-1 overall and 5-3 in league play. They return to action Saturday when they host the Sunshine Invitational at Dow High. Games start at 12 p.m.