BASEBALL

Opening day of league-play kicked off with a bang with the HU baseball team outlasting #RV Indiana Wesleyan in a 16-15 slugfest before a pitcher’s duel favored the hosts 3-1 Thursday afternoon at IWU’s Crandall Family Field.

Both teams put on a hitting clinic in the opener with Huntington’s at bat in the fifth a lashing as they sifted through three IWU pitchers on the way to plating ten runs on five hits, which included two dingers, three walks and an error.

Thirteen batters stepped up to the plate for HU with Ryne Wheeler and Beldon Glasgow each going yard, Wheeler’s a solo shot while Glasgow’s a two-run bomb. Also highlighting the frame was Bryce Deckman’s two-run double and Beyonce Paco Paulina’s two-run single.

In addition to his homerun in the fifth, Glasgow drove in two more runs with a double to right center in the eighth. The senior transfer from IU Northwest finished with two hits and four RBI. Other Foresters to log two hits included Mason Meyer, Wheeler and Braden Kauffman. As it turned out, eight different Foresters drove in at least one run.

Not surprising, the two teams combined to score in every inning. Hits favored IWU 13-12. Prior to Huntington’s monster fifth, the visitors were trailing 6-2. Wesleyan then turned into the chasers the rest of the contest, pulling within one by the bottom of the ninth before Meyer, in relief, got himself out of a jam by working the final two outs with bases loaded to notch the save.

Meyer was the sixth Forester to spend time on the mound with Grant Simmons earning the win. The senior hurler gave up four hits, three runs and three walks while striking out four in 5.2 innings of work.

Tyler Papenbrock and Brock Buckley went head-to-head in the nightcap to showcase pitching over hitting. Papenbrock took the loss despite giving up just two hits, only one of which drove in a run, and two walks. Wesleyan found a way to score three runs off the veteran southpaw.

In addition to an RBI-double in the second, IWU accounted for their other two runs by way of a fielder’s choice and ground out. Huntington’s only run came at the big bat of Glasgow who lofted one out of the park in the fourth for his second dinger of the doubleheader.

The final two games of the four-game series with Indiana Wesleyan are slated to take place at Forest Glen tomorrow starting at 3:00 p.m.