The Hillsdale baseball squad punched their ticket to the Division IV State Final Four with a dominating 16-2 win over New Middletown Springfield for the Strongsville Regional title.

 

The contest didn’t start well for starting pitcher Garrett Goodwin and the Falcons, surrendering a pair of runs to the Tigers in the top of the first. With a wealth of run support soon to follow, however, the senior righty would settle in from that point forward, only allowing three hits on the day with no walks while striking out six.  

 

Hillsdale answered Springfield’s (26-4) pair of runs with an offensive explosion over the next two stanzas, hanging a dozen runs on the board with eight of those coming in the bottom of the first. The Falcons forced two Tigers pitching changes before the start of the second inning, belting out 11 total hits in the game.

 

Ty Williams opened the second with a solo shot to right-center while Jay Luikart finished a perfect 4-4 from the dish with 5 RBI and 2 runs, as seven other Falcons batted in at least one score. Following a scoreless third, Hillsdale dropped four more runs in the fourth to put the mercy rule into effect, finishing off Springfield in just 4.5 innings to set a program record with 27 wins.

 

Hillsdale (27-2) will now advance to the Div IV State Semifinals to face the winner between Minster vs Fairfield Christian on June 7 at 4 pm in Akron.