This past Saturday,the Chardon Hilltopper varsity baseball team took on the Mayfield Wildcats at ClassicPark, home of the Lake County Captains. The Hilltoppers, who were 7-5 at the time, were coming off a very disappointing loss to the Geneva Eagles at home, and they were looking to come back strong against Mayfield.

Senior Drew Gittins would start for the Toppers and he had the hot hand. Having a 4-0 record, the Toppers were very confident in their pitcher. “He has really turned it up a notch this season. He has helped us win every game, not only in pitching, but hitting as well,” says senior Joe Connick.

When the game started, the Toppers jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. However, the Wildcats wouldn’t be beat that easily. They later scored two runs to tie the game. Going into the fifth inning, it started to turn into a very interesting game. “Even though it was tied at the time, I had a feeling we would eventually pull away,” said junior Dillon Coughlin.

The fifth inning had started and the Toppers were just getting warmed up. They scored two runs and later held the Wildcats to zero, heading into the sixth inning. The Toppers could feel the momentum shifting in their direction.

The sixth came and the Toppers didn’t feel too comfortable with their lead. They wanted to score a few more to secure the win. And they did just that. Scoring three more runs in the sixth and again holding the Wildcats, the Toppers had a 7-2 lead heading into the last and final inning. “At that point, I felt we had the game in the bag. We had the momentum and felt we could not be stopped,” says freshman Perry Bewley.

In the seventh, the Toppers would score five more, just to rub it in. The final score was 12-2 and the Toppers were victorious, improving their record to 8-2. “It was a big win for us.”We needed to come back from a bad loss and that’s exactly what we did,” says senior Drew Gittins.

Chase Friebertshauser lead the team going 3-4 at the plate and 5 RBI’s. The Toppers were feeling good at the end of the game, which was good considering they had a big game against the Geneva Eagles on that upcoming Monday. If the Toppers keep playing like this, they will be hard to stop.