BASEBALL

After opening up their three-game series at Goshen (13-24, 7-12) on Friday with an 18-10 win, the Forester baseball team split with the Maple Leafs on Saturday afternoon, dropping the opener 3-2 and then bouncing back for an 8-4 W, to claim the season series 2-1. HU (20-10) continues to sit atop the league standings with their 14-5 CL record, 1.5 games ahead of second place Mount Vernon.

Aside from the third, the Goshen pitching staff had Huntington’s number. The visitors finished with just five hits in the contest and cashed in on a pair in the third to help plate their only two runs of the afternoon. After Donovan Clark drew a walk to open the frame, Adam Roser singled to put runners on the corners. Daniel Lichty brought Clark in with a fielder’s choice and then Jacob Hansen doubled HU’s total with an RBI-base poke into center.

It was the first two runs of the game but the Maple Leafs matched it in their home side of the frame for the 2-2 deadlock that stood until Jason Grooms’ walk-off homer in the seventh for the 3-2 final.

The Maple Leafs handed junior Alex McCutcheon his first loss of the year. The southpaw went the distance to surrender four hits, three runs and a walk while striking out 13 of the 23 batters he faced. So far this season, he has given up just 12 earned runs in 53 innings of work.

Clark made sure his team got off to a fast start in the nightcap by finding a gap in right to open up play and then spent Roser’s at bat making his way around the bases. The speedster stole second and third and then scampered home on a passed ball for the early 1-0 lead that was never relinquished.

Clark was Coach Frame’s key cog as he finished 5-for-6 at the plate, which included an RBI-double in the fourth, scored three times and swiped five bags. The Fort Wayne native has now posted 27 stolen bases on the year and ranks fourth nationally by averaging .786 stolen bases per game.

Huntington scored seven times before their hosts finally got on the board in the sixth with a pair. While Goshen would go on to outscore HU 2-1 the rest of the way, it wouldn’t be enough to challenge the lead.

Through the first seven frames, the Foresters scored in every inning except the second with the fifth proving most productive thanks to Austin Pritchard’s two-run blast and a Goshen throwing blunder.

While Clark grabbed five of his team’s 13 hits, Roser and Lichty were the only two Foresters to post multiple hits with two apiece.

Caleb Landrum spent the first seven innings on the bump to earn the win by giving up nine hits and four runs, three of which were earned, while striking out three after which Mason Shinabery offered two frames of hitless, scoreless relief.

The Foresters return to Forest Glen on Tuesday to host Marian for doubleheader beginning at 3:00 p.m.