BASEBALL

It’s a race to the finish line with a lot at stake in the Huntington baseball team’s series with Indiana Wesleyan that kicked off today at Forester Glen. While #21 Taylor has separated itself as the CL leader, there’s a battle for the No. 2 spot between these two squads. HU got off on the right foot by cruising to an 11-1 win in the opener before IWU figured things out in the nightcap to top the Foresters 8-3.

With today’s split, HU (29-12) claims a 21-7 league record while Wesleyan (27-16-1) boasts a 22-8 CL record.

Langston Ginder sailed one over the center field fence in the bottom of the eighth for a two-run dinger that closed the books on HU’s dominate game-one performance over the Wildcats as it pushed the hosts’ lead to ten to activate the skunk rule.

Ginder was the last of four Foresters to knock one out of the park with Satchell Wilson the first, a solo shot in the third. Jordan Malott took his mighty swing in the sixth for a three-run bomb over the left field fence while Matt Wolff sent one yard in the seventh.

Seven of HU’s 12 hits were for extra bases and if it wasn’t a dinger, it was a double. Huntington’s run fest didn’t start until the second inning after the Wildcats had scored the game’s first run in their opening at-bat. It was a short-lived advantage for IWU as they never saw home again while HU scored 11 straight over the course of the final seven frames.

Wilson finished with two hits and two RBI. Other members of Frame’s crew that registered a pair of hits included Ian McCutcheon, who claimed an RBI-double, Jarret Gray and Bryce Deckman, who also pounded out an RBI-double.

Just as Huntington’s bats stayed hot all contest, so did Graham Kollen’s arm. The sophomore hurler threw a complete-game dandy having scattered just four hits without giving up a walk in eight innings of work and surrendering just one run while sitting down seven batters on strikes.

Unfortunately, offense dried up for HU as the nightcap wore on while the Wildcats were just warming up. Down 3-0, the hosts rallied to get two back in the bottom of the third, scoring on an error and Wolff RBI-ground out. By the next frame, it was all tied up at 3-3 when Deckman roped a shot in left for his second RBI-double of the series.

Things fell to pieces after that for Frame and crew. The top of the fifth saw the first three IWU batters make their way on base via walks after which a single drove in two runs and then bases cleared on a Wildcat homerun. Wesleyan’s 8-3 lead held the rest of the  way as Huntington managed just one more hit after that to go down quietly.

Tyler Papenbrock took the loss for HU. He tossed the first four frames and gave up four hits, six runs and six walks while striking out five.

The Foresters wrap up their four-game home stance with another twin bill against IWU tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.