BASEBALL

The Huntington baseball team dominated the opener, 8-1, in Friday’s doubleheader at Forest Glen Park against #RV Indiana Wesleyan before dropping a 4-3 decision to their visitors in the nightcap.

RJ Anglin pitched a dandy in game one. The 6-2 sophomore gave up a mere three hits with one a homerun accounting for IWU’s only offense of the contest. Of the 32 batters he faced, Anglin struck out 11 while walking two. He needed just 116 pitches to notch the complete-game nine-inning victory.

Bryce Deckman scored three of HU’s eight runs. After scoring his team’s first run on a wild pitch that saw him score from second, he came around to score on Braden Kauffman’s RBI-single two frames later in the fourth and then tapped into some more savvy base running, tagging up from second on Dylan Rost’s sacrifice fly to plate the game’s final run in the seventh.

In addition to his sac fly, Rost doubled in a run with a shot to right center. Kade Flores also found a hole on the right side of the field to knock in a run in the fourth with Beldon Glasgow’s two-run homer in the sixth highlighting the Foresters’ offense.

The Wildcats cranked one out of the park in the first and then again in the second, both solo shots, to open up a 2-0 lead in the nightcap. Thanks to Mason Meyer’s RBI-double in the fourth, HU got one back only to have the guests string together four hits for two more runs in the sixth to make for a 4-1 difference.

After leaving a baserunner stranded in the bottom of the sixth, the Foresters went back to work in the seventh. With runners on first and second and just one out, Rost delivered a double to right center that allowed one run to score. Zach Pelletier’s sacrifice fly pushed another run across the plate but HU’s late-game rally came up short with the next batter popping out for the third and final out of the night.

Graham Kollen was charged with the loss having given up seven hits and four runs while striking out seven in his seven innings of work.

The split wraps up the series against Wesleyan at 2-2. The Foresters’ overall record stands at 7-7. HU is back in action next weekend for a four-game series at Taylor.