BASEBALL

For the sixth time this season, the #RV Huntington baseball team logged double-digit runs in Friday’s opener against Spring Arbor (19-25, 13-17) to snag a 10-8 win before dropping a 4-2 decision to their hosts in game two at Hank Burbridge Field.

HU got off to a great start in the opener by racking up four runs in the top of the first, but the Cougars didn’t get rattled. Instead, they fired right back to take over the lead at 6-4 by the third.

After leaving runners stranded in three straight frames, HU got the lift they needed when Camden Dice sent one over the right-center wall in the fifth. SAU matched that run in their half of the inning, but it was all Foresters after that.

Daniel Lichty was next to bring the power for Huntington with a two-run bomb in the sixth to lock things up at 7-7. In the same frame, Langston Ginder, after doubling his way on base, stole third and then motored home on a wild pitch to reclaim the lead for his team at 8-7.

Owen Young pounded out an RBI-single in the seventh after which Lichty doubled in an insurance run to push the Foresters’ lead to 10-7. The Cougars got one back in their half of the frame. After a quiet eighth for both squads, SAU threatened in the ninth to keep things interesting.

With two outs and the go ahead run at the plate, the hosts’ rally came up short thanks to reliever Brent Turner who worked a groundout for the final out to pick up the save.

Turner gave up just two hits, both in the ninth, in 2.1 innings of work. Freshman Max Meisner was credited with the win. He spent 1.2 innings on the mound where he gave up three hits, a run and a walk while striking out one for his second collegiate victory.

Both teams brought their bats to game one with HU logging 14 hits, half for extra bases, to Spring Arbor’s 13. Lichty and Dice led the way with three hits, each a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, to go along with three and one RBI respectively. Jarret Gray also pounded out three hits to go along with an RBI while Alex McCutcheon finished with a pair of base pokes which included a run-scoring single in the first.

The nightcap proved much more low key. Ginder’s sac fly in to open the contest gave Huntington a short-lived lead that SAU was quick to erase in their half of first by plating a pair of runs. Spring Arbor struck again in the third.

HU’s only offense after that came in the fourth on Eli Knust’s RBI-blooper into left. It pulled the visitors within a run at 3-2. SAU touched home in the fifth and then breathed a sigh of relief when Huntington loaded the bases in the sixth but couldn’t convert to retain a lasting 4-2 lead.

Frame’s crew left nine runners stranded to SAU’s three.

Alex McCutcheon took the loss for the guests by giving up eight hits, four runs and a walk while nabbing  two whiffs.

Huntington (25-13, 18-12) will head back to Spring Arbor on Monday for another 1:00 p.m. doubleheader.