BASEBALL

The Forester baseball team opened up league play with an impressive 7-6 road win over #22 Taylor University (16-5, 0-1) Friday afternoon to improve to 5-5 overall, 1-0 in CL action.

After giving up two runs in the first frame, HU’s ace DJ Moore went into lock-down mode by holding the Trojans scoreless over the next seven innings. When all was said and done, the right-handed hurler struck out 11, handed out four free passes and surrendered seven hits while twice working his way out of bases-loaded jams to pick up his second win of the year.

The Foresters didn’t let their early 2-0 deficit derail them offensively as their pressure, especially in the latter half of the contest, forced five pitching changes. Small ball allowed HU to get one back in the third on Collin Landrum’s RBI-groundout after which the visitors scored twice in three of the final four frames to grab their second win of the year over of a Top 25 team.

After back-to-back walks to open the sixth, the Foresters used their speed on the bases and took advantage of a missed catch to plate their first run of the inning while their second run came on another RBI-groundout, this time by Adam Roser, to climb in front 3-2.

After a quiet seventh, Huntington went back to work in the eighth to extend their lead by two more when Daniel Lichty knocked in Donovan Clark, who opened up the inning with an infield single. Three batters later with bases loaded, Nick Davit hit a deep sacrifice fly allowing Lichty to easily tag up for HU’s fifth run.

By all accounts, it looked like Huntington’s two scores in the top of the ninth, both a result of a misplayed grounder, would serve as insurance runs as they held a comfortable 7-2 lead with just three outs remaining. But their hosts had other plans.

After scoring four runs and chasing Brent Turner off the mound, Moore’s reliever, the Trojans were sitting pretty with runners on first and second with one out. Enter TU’s spoiler – Joey Butz. The HU rookie pitcher calmly picked off Christian McGill at second and then got Brian Fields to fly out to for the save.

Clark had half of his team’s six hits in addition to scoring twice to pace Coach Frame’s crew at the plate. Satchell Wilson logged a pair of base pokes while Lichty posted HU’s only other hit. Behind three from Roser, HU drew seven walks on the afternoon while striking out just four times as a team.

Taylor collected ten hits, worked six base on balls while striking out 12 times. Each squad committed three errors resulting in a handful of unearned runs with HU logging three to TU’s one.

The last ten meetings between these two squads have resulted in six HU wins. Weather permitting, the Foresters are back at Winterholter Field tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. for a doubleheader with the Trojans.