BASEBALL

After topping Spring Arbor 6-5 yesterday, the HU baseball team picked up a pair of wins, 8-0, 6-4, Tuesday afternoon at Logansport High School’s Jim Turner Field to wrap up the series sweep over the Cougars. With these wins, Huntington improves to 9-6 overall, 5-1 in league play while SAU drops to 8-18 overall, 1-5 in CL action.

The Foresters took control of the opener in the third when they erupted for four runs. Collin Landrum started things off by reaching first on an errant throw after which Donovan Clark bunted his way on base. Two outs and a walk later to load the bases, Adrien Perez’s high infield bouncer allowed Landrum to score after which Ian McCutcheon drove in two more runs with a shot into center.

In the process of Clark and Austin Pritchard, who drew the aforementioned walk, scoring on McCutcheon’s RBI-single, Perez alertly made his way home too while the Cougars were throwing the ball around to account for HU’s final run of the frame.

Pritchard added to the lead by logging an RBI in the fifth on a fielder’s choice and eventually coming around to score on a Cougar error, their fourth of the game. The sixth saw Huntington plate two more runs on back-to-back ground rule doubles by Daniel Lichty and Pritchard upping the lead to the final 8-0 disparity.

The heart of the line-up accounted for most of the Foresters’ offense. Lichty, hitting in the three-hole, went 3-for-4 at the plate, logged an RBI and scored twice. Batting clean-up, Pritchard finished with a hit, two RBI and two runs scored. No. 5 and 6 in the line-up respectively, Perez and McCutcheon each hammered out two hits and combined to drive in three runs.

The foursome collected eight of HU’s 11 hits and drove in six of their team’s eight runs.

Alex McCutcheon picked up the win on the mound. In 5.2 innings of work, the leftie junior gave up six hits and three walks while striking out two before being relieved by Mason Shinabery who needed only 21 pitches to polish off the Cougars. The W is the Foresters’ third shutout of the season.

Frame’s squad had to overcome a four-run deficit in the nightcap to wrap up the sweep. SAU scored twice in the third and did the same again in the fifth before HU finally got on track.

The Foresters couldn’t get much going through the first four frames but that changed in the bottom of the fifth. After Landrum and Clark drew back-to-back walks, Adam Roser doubled them both in with a shot to the warning track in right field and then touched home on Pritchard’s double to cut the lead to just one. A wild pitch and misplayed grounder allowed Alex McCutcheon, pinch running for Pritchard, to scamper home to round out the inning’s scoring for a 4-4 stalemate.

The Cougars managed just two hits the rest of the way with Shinabery to blame. The junior hurler, who tossed 1.1 innings of relief in game one, came in midway through the sixth to shutdown SAU’s offense. He spent the final 3.1 innings on the mound during which he surrendered just one hit on the way to picking up his second win of the year.

A two-out rally in the seventh ended with McCutcheon tripling in a pair of runs for what proved the game-winning play to make for the 6-4 final.

HU outhit their visitors 11-8 with Pritchard leading the way with two hits and an RBI. Satchell Wilson also posted two hits while McCutcheon added a hit and three RBI.

The Foresters’ single nine at Manchester tomorrow has been postponed so next up for Frame and crew is a weekend series at Bethel.