Ashland University baseball has been accustomed to playing long days of baseball so far this spring. 

Whether it is scoring a lot of runs in a rout of another team or going into extra innings, the Eagles always seem to be on the field for a while. 

When it comes to playing extra innings, some of the Eagles’ games have to be suspended until daylight allows them to resume the next day. 

It happened last week when Ashland and Lake Erie had to stop the second game of their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader last Tuesday due to darkness, a game that was finished the next day just before the third game of the series. The Storm won the game 5-4 in seven innings. 

Darkness halted game action again this week when the Eagles traveled to Hillsdale. Ashland had to finish the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader on Sunday. 

The Eagles finished with a win in this suspended game, and it seemed to carry over in helping AU (15-11, 5-6 GLIAC) take two of three games from the Chargers (9-20, 7-8). 

Game 1: L, 9-2

Ashland’s first game in Hillsdale did not go smoothly at all for both the Eagles’ offense and defense. 

The Chargers were able to take an early 4-0 lead after two innings against AU’s Vince Frate. Frate entered the game with a 5-1 record and an ERA under two, but the Chargers didn’t seemed intimidated as they had five hits in the first two innings. 

Frate was able to limit the damage by stranding five runners on base after the first two innings. 

Ashland’s lineup was quiet all day long with the exception of right fielder Nick Edwards. Edwards had three hits in three at-bats and drove in both of AU’s runs, the first on a single in the fourth inning and the second on another single in the sixth. 

All other hitters for AU had a total of just four hits in the game. 

Hillsdale had already chased Frate from the game before it posted four runs off Ashland’s bullpen in the bottom of the sixth. 

Frate (5-2) went five innings and gave up eight hits, four walks and five runs (four earned) in the loss. 

Game 2: W, 4-3 F/10

The second game of Saturday’s doubleheader ended up taking much longer than expected, but the Eagles held on to win in 10 innings. 

Ashland got off to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning after RBI from designated hitter Kyle Brooks and first baseman Greg Ludwig. The Eagles would later add a third run in the fifth inning when second baseman Wade Kaido scored on a fielder’s choice. 

Starting pitcher Alex Smith held the Chargers scoreless until the fifth inning when they scored two runs. Hillsdale would add one more in the sixth inning to tie the game at three. 

The game remained tied after seven innings and went to extra innings. Smith was taken out of the game after seven innings of work and replaced by Mitch Cox. 

Play was suspended due to darkness in the eighth inning and resumed before the third game of the series on Sunday. 

Ashland would finally break through in the top of the tenth inning when pinch-hitter Stephan James singled to center field to score Kaido and led AU to the 4-3 win. Cox remained on the mound and threw three scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and earned his second win of the season. 

Game 3: W, 17-2

The score of the final game in the series between Ashland and Hillsdale would seem to be a more common football score than a baseball score. Even scoring only a two-point safety would be more common than the dominating 15-run win by the Eagles. 

The most productive player of the game for AU was Mackenzie Hampshire. The Eagles’ left fielder had a monster day at the plate, with two of his three hits being home runs. 

Both home runs came in the sixth inning, when the Eagles added nine runs to a 7-2 lead they held already. Hampshire led-off the inning with a solo shot, only to follow-up the act with a grand slam later in the inning. 

First baseman Mike Lewandowski also added a solo home run of his own in the eighth to make it 17-2. Lewandowski led all players with four runs scored. 

Five different Eagles had at least 2 hits and an RBI in the game.

Cox remained on the mound to start despite finishing the previous game and he was just as effective. He got his second win of the day and his third win of the season after giving up just two runs in five innings of work. Cox is now 3-0 on the year.

Ashland traveled to play a doubleheader at Tiffin on Wednesday after deadline. The Eagles will then head up to Northwood over the weekend to play a three-game series against the Timberwolves. Ashland’s next home game will be 3 p.m. next Wednesday against Tiffin.