BASEBALL

The HU baseball team wrapped up opening weekend in Alabama by splitting with IUPUC. After dropping a 5-2 decision to the Crimson Pride, Huntington avenged the loss with a convincing 15-4 win in the nightcap. The Foresters head back to campus with a 3-1 record.

IUPUC struck first in the opener with four runs in the third, added another run in the fourth and then held off HU late in the game to log their program’s first win.

Huntington’s bats were quiet for most of the afternoon before the finally woke up in the fifth. After Ian McCutcheon singled his way on base, he eventually scampered home when Matt Wolff found a gap in left field. Sophomore Bryce Deckman then cranked one out of the park in the sixth to account for his team’s final run. A member of the HU pitching staff, it was just his third at bat as a Forester and his first collegiate dinger.

He finished with two hits on the day, his first a two-bagger in the bottom of the third. As a team, the Foresters managed just four hits.

Starting pitcher Coby Griffith gave up all five runs to be charged with the loss. In 4.2 innings of work, he gave up five hits and two walks while striking out seven. Adam Oxley offered 2.1 innings of hitless relief.

For as much as offensive was lacking in the opener, the Foresters turned things around in the nightcap to enjoy a scoring fest.

HU sifted through seven IUPUC pitchers with five Foresters picking up at least one RBI over the course of the seven-inning affair. Langston Ginder and Jordan Malott came up with the biggest hits. Malott knocked in two runs with a single to right in the second while Ginder ripped a triple to drive in three runs two frames later.

Ginder finished with two hits and three RBI. Malott also logged two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs. Jarret Gray pounded out a pair of hits while Max Moser and Noah Comstock added a hit and two RBI apiece.

In addition to a solid day at the plate, Huntington also took advantage of a wild pitch, two balks and two errors to score five of their 14 runs.

While the outcome was lopsided, it didn’t start out that way. The first frame saw the Crimson Pride plate two runs. HU answered by finding home four times in their side but IUPUC came right back to knot things up at 4-4 in the top of the second. Huntington erupted for four runs in their half of the inning to create some wiggle room. They held their guests scoreless the rest of the way while building on their lead over the next three frames to make for the skewed final score.

Graham Kollen was tabbed the winning pitcher. He tossed the first four frames and struck out eight while giving up seven hits, four runs, three earned, and a walk. Grant Simmons took HU home by fanning six batters and holding IUPUC hitless and scoreless over the last three frames.

HU heads to Kentucky this coming weekend to play Saint Xavier on Friday and Georgetown on Saturday.