BASEBALL

The HU baseball team moved into a three-way tie for second in the league standings with a pair of wins, 12-6, 6-3, over Saint Francis Friday at Forest Glen. With two regular season games remaining, the Foresters, USF and Taylor claim a 22-12 record in CL action for a share of the second spot.

In game one, Alex McCutcheon’s two-run bomb in the seventh was the first two of four runs in the frame that blew the game open. It took HU’s 7-6 advantage to a five-run difference. McCutcheon’s next at-bat in the eighth landed him on third and drove in another run to make for the 12-6 final.

The Foresters got things started right away by finding home four times in the first. After loading the bases compliments of a walk, error and hit batter, the hosts strung together three straight hits. Satchell Wilson singled in the first run; Camden Dice ripped a double deep into right-center to bring in two more after which Jarett Gray’s base poke to center made it 4-0.

The Cougars got two back in the third and by the top of the fourth had knotted things up at 4-4. But Frame’s crew was quick to respond on an Ian McCutcheon RBI-ground out and Langston Ginder run-scoring single to right in their half of the inning to reclaim the lead at 6-4. USF outscored HU 2-1 over the next two frames before Alex McCutcheon got his team on track in the seventh.

McCutcheon finished with two hits and three RBI. Ginder and Dice each added a pair of hits and just as many RBI while Gray also pounded out two base pokes to go along with knocking in a run.

Camden Dice claimed his sixth win of the year by tossing the first 5.2 innings where he gave up 11 hits, six runs and a walk while fanning eight Cougars.

Alex McCutcheon did a little bit of everything in the nightcap. In addition to earning the win on the hill, the southpaw also sent one deep, a two-run shot, in the sixth to put the finishing touches on the Foresters’ come-from-behind win. It was his second dinger of the series, his third of the season.

The HU ace gave three runs on three hits in the second but then settled in to limit his guests to just two base knocks the rest of the way. When all was said and done, he gave up five hits, three runs and three walks while striking out eight before reliever Brent struck out the final two batters of the night for the save.

Facing a 3-0 deficit after two, Huntington methodically chipped away at the lead. A hard hit single by Ian McCutcheon in the third scored Owen Young who had reached on a walk, one of six in the contest. After a relatively quiet start to the series, Daniel Lichty came to life in the fifth with a two-run blast that landed safely in fair territory down the right-field line to pull his team even with Saint Francis at 3-3.

With runners on the corners, Gray’s RBI-fielder’s choice in the bottom of the sixth proved the game-winner before McCutcheon added a few insurance runs with his mighty swing.

With these wins, the Foresters move to 30-13 overall. The last time Frame’s crew posted 30 regular season wins dates back to 2008. HU is back in action tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. for another doubleheader with Saint Francis.