BASEBALL

The Huntington baseball team swept Marian, 10-6, 14-12, Saturday afternoon at MU Ballpark for a pair of impressive road wins that move them to 14-12 overall, 12-6 in league action.

The Foresters have scored double-digit runs in six of their last seven contests. On this given day, HU got their work done early in the opener by scoring eight times in the first three frames to enjoy a lead that wouldn’t be challenged.

Both teams put up four runs in their first at-bat. Frame’s crew got off to a quick start as evidenced by five of their first six batters finding their way on base with Ian McCutcheon and Jarett Gray each singling in a run. The guests added two more before it was all said and done before Marian match that in their half of the frame.

While the Knights (14-16, 6-10) were quiet offensively after that until the ninth, Huntington got another RBI-single from McCutcheon in the second after which Daniel Lichty scored on a wild pitch shortly after. Matt Wolff added to his team’s total with a two-run bomb in the third to up the lead to 8-4.

McCutcheon was at it again in the eighth with a third RBI-base poke and then Owen Young put the finishing touches on HU’s potent offensive with a two-bagger in the ninth that drove in Gray who had been hit by a pitch for a second time.

While Marian got two back in the home half of the ninth and left one stranded, it wasn’t enough to cause concern for the Forester dugout.

Six of HU’s first seven batters finished with at least one hit. McCutcheon led the way with three hits and three RBI while Lichty, Satchell Wilson and Gray added two base smacks apiece.

Camden Dice picked up the win on the mound by giving up nine hits, four runs and two walks while striking out eight in seven innings of work.

It took an extra inning in the nightcap to decide the winner with Kallen Kelsheimer’s two-run blast in the eighth ensuring the guests left with the win. It was his first homer of the year, the third of his Forester career.

While Kelsheimer’s mighty swing proved the game-winner, McCutcheon carried the team on his back up until then with a three-run dinger in the third and two-run single in the fourth bringing his series total to five hits and eight RBI.

Gray also boarded the homerun train with a solo shot in the sixth. Other Foresters to pick up an RBI included Max Moser walking in a run and Lichty and Langston Ginder each singling in runs. HU also took advantage of an error and wild pitch to find home two more times over the course of the eight-inning affair.

The Foresters led by as many as seven, 11-4, before the Knights finally knotted things up at 12s by the sixth to set the stage for Kelsheimer’s heroics two frames later.

Noah Arbuckle, who tossed the finally two frames of game one, earned the nightcap win. He spent the final three innings on the bump where he limited the Knights to three hits, one run and two walks while striking out four.

HU is off until this coming weekend when the host IWU for a four-game series starting on Friday.