BASEBALL

Saturday was a big day of baseball for the Foresters. After putting the finishing touches on yesterday’s rain-suspended game to the tune of an 8-3 win, HU finished the weekend with two more wins, 9-6, 4-3, against #11 IU Southeast.

With Friday’s 3-2 win, Frame’s crew swept their four-game series with the Grenadiers (5-10) to remain perfect on the season at 7-0.

The Foresters built a 4-1 cushion in yesterday’s nightcap before rain suspended play. The game resumed this afternoon with bases loaded and one out in the top of the fourth. HU had already scored four in the frame and added one more to their total for a 5-1 advantage that the Grenadiers were never able to challenge.

Daniel Lichty’s two-run triple highlighted HU’s big inning that also saw Jarrett Gray single in a run and Gustavo Bonilla bunt in another.

The Grenadiers got two back in their half of the fourth, but the Foresters had the last say by adding a few more insurance runs which included Langston Ginder’s solo shot in the sixth to cruise to the win.

Alex McCutcheon tossed the first three frames, giving up a run and two hits in the first, while striking out three after which Brent Turner took over the bump to log the win. In three innings of work, the senior hurler allowed four hits, two runs and two walks after which Gabe Freeman needed just 12 pitches in the seventh to close out the contest.

The Foresters got a lot of bang for their buck offensively – securing just four hits while taking advantage of four Grenadier blunders, five walks and a hit batter. Lichty finished with two hits and three RBI to lead the way for his team.

Game three in the series started just like the previous two with Huntington staring at a deficit after an inning of play. This time around, the hosts jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but it didn’t take long for the Foresters to make up that ground and then some.

Kallen Kelsheimer, in his first collegiate start, wasted little time making his presence known with a pair of doubles in his first two at-bats to drive in three of his team’s first six runs. He knocked in HU’s first run in the second and followed that up with a two-run blast to cap off a five-run third which included Ian McCutcheon sending his first pitch long to open the frame.

It made for a 6-3 game with plenty of action still to come. HU piled on three more runs in the fifth compliments of Alex McCutcheon’s RBI base poke and Eli Knust’s two-run single to right. IUSE countered with two runs in their half of the frame and added another in the sixth before both teams stranded a runner in the seventh to close things out.

Huntington’s offense was by committee. In addition to Kelsheimer’s two hits and three RBI, Satchell Wilson finished with three hits and an RBI in addition to scoring three times. Gray picked up two hits and two RBI while Lichty also tallied a pair of base pokes.

HU recorded 13 hits, five for extra bases, to IUSE’s 11.

Camden Dice tossed the first four innings, giving up seven hits and three runs, to earn the win. Noah Arbuckle, Freeman and Ian McCutcheon also spent time on the bump with McCutcheon working the last out to pick up the save.

McCutcheon was back it in the final game of the series to log his second save of the day. With three outs remaining, the Foresters held what seemed a comfortable 4-1 lead, but the Grenadiers came knocking in the bottom of the seventh. With runners on first and second and no outs, McCutcheon was asked to navigate the final three outs. While his inherited base-runners eventually scored, the gritty junior stayed the course to bait the fourth batter he faced into a fly out for the final out.

Joey Butz was credited with the win. He spent the first 3.2 innings on the mound and gave up four hits, a run and four walks while striking out five.

Offensively, HU scored twice in the third on a McCutcheon double and Wilson single. Wilson knocked in another run in the fifth and then found his way home on Gray’s base poke two batters later for the game-winner. Wilson, Gray along with Lichty each posted two hits.

Next up for the Foresters is a single nine at IU Kokomo on Wednesday.