Baseball: Dow, Midland split Dow Diamond doubleheader

by Alex Baumgardner

A day after the Chemic and Charger girls split a softball doubleheader, it was the boy’s turn to battle to a stalemate as Midland and Dow each took a game of Tuesday’s baseball twin bill at Dow Diamond.

Game one went to Dow 3-2 in an exciting extra-inning affair, while game two was all Midland with the Chemics prevailing 13-3.

With Dow coaching legend Tom Roberts on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, the Chargers were able to muster some late-inning heroics in a thrilling opening contest. After falling behind 2-0 on a Joel Parsons’ sac fly and an RBI single from Kenny Babinski, Dow’s bats finally woke up in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Midland starter Blake Benner hit Zach Stidham to lead off the inning then gave up a single to Andrew Seer. Michael Allen followed with a hot shot to second that got into the outfield to get the Chargers on the board. Nate Richard answered that with a single of his own to tie the game at 2-2.

Richard would complete the theatrics two innings later.

Seer was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the eighth, stole second, and advanced to third on an Allen single. Richard then came to the plate needing only a fly ball to drive in the winning run, but did one better when he smoked the first pitch he saw over everyone’s head and into the deepest part of Dow Diamond to give the Chargers the win.

Dow coach Kip Harris said after the game that he was particularly happy for Richard, who had really come on as of late to give the Chargers an offensive boost.

“He’s started hitting the ball pretty well,” Harris said. “For him to come up in the Midland game, being a senior and such, it was good for him to be in a spot to get that hit.”

While Richard got most of the attention from fans and teammates, it was Sean Hartman who kept Dow in position to get the win in the first place. The senior right hander threw all eight innings for the Chargers, striking out four and scattering nine hits.

“He’s had one outing this year where’s he’s been off, but pretty much every time out he’s thrown well,” Harris said. “He wanted to win and he wanted to stay in. I didn’t really question at the end of the seventh because I knew he was going to go out there in the eighth.”

Benner was the tough luck loser for Midland, as he too worked all eight innings, striking out four and allowing six hits.
Game two was a much different story for both squads.

Midland scored a run in the first and two more in the second off Dow starter Torri Nelson on RBI singles from Eric Dawson and Kasey Kennett, and a wild pitch.

The Chargers answered back with three to tie it in the bottom of the third as Allen and Richard again carried the offensive torch. Allen doubled to deep left center to make it 3-2 and Richard promptly followed with a single to score Allen to tie the game.
It was all Midland from there, though.

The Chemics added a run in the top of the fourth on a sac fly and then scored six in the top of the fifth to put the game away. Midland was able to empty its bench and scored three more in the sixth to round out the scoring.

“We took advantage of their mistakes in game two,” Chemics coach Eric Albright said, as Dow committed two errors and was
plagued by walks much of the game. “We did not take advantage of any of their mistakes in game one.”

Harris, agreed, saying that his team got good enough starting pitching to win, but just made too many mistakes.

“Torri didn’t throw all that bad. We don’t make a play here, don’t make a play there and all of a sudden he’s throwing extra pitches and extra outs. You can’t do that to most teams, especially quality teams. They’re going to take advantage of it and Midland did.”

Albright said he was pleased his team shook off a tough loss in game one to play as well as it did in the night cap.

“There’s a little bit of satisfaction there,” he said. “We could easily hang our heads and not respond in game two. But, give our guys credit for putting together an effort in game two. They were playing for a little bit of pride. Game one was very winnable for our guys and obviously we didn’t do that, so, I think they felt they had something to prove.”

Midland (22-11 overall, 14-6 SVL) will get the week off before returning to action Saturday at Grand Ledge. Dow (15-12-1, 11-9) travels to Traverse City Central Monday to take on the Trojans.

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Photos by Jason Wolverton & Alex Baumgardner