BASEBALL

The No. 22 Grenadiers of IU Southeast (8-0) wrapped up a three-game series against the HU baseball team with a pair of wins Saturday afternoon, 9-7, 1-0, at the Koetter Sports Complex to complete the sweep.

The opener was a scoring fest that saw four lead changes with IUSE having the final say when they unleashed for four runs in the eighth.

Daniel Lichty drove in HU’s first run in the top of the third with an RBI-double. A few batters later, Langston Ginder sailed his first pitch over the right field fence for a two-run blast and HU’s first and only dinger of the series. The three-run inning came on the heels of IUSE scoring two runs in the second to turn the visitors’ one-run deficit into a 3-2 advantage.

Frame’s crew added to their total in the fourth. Lichty again got things started with his second RBI-base poke of the day, this time a single to left. Ryan Hale, pinch running for Gustavo Bonilla who reached on an infield single earlier in the frame, also came around to score by way of a bobble on the play.

The Foresters returned the favor in the fifth as the Grenadiers crossed home on a misplayed grounder. IUSE would go on to touch home twice more to knot things up at 5-5. It was a bit of a cat-and-mouse game as Lichty was back at it in the seventh to log a second run-scoring double to put his team back on top 6-5. Two batters later, Lichty scampered home on Ginder’s RBI-groundout to extend HU’s lead to two.

In keeping step, the Grenadiers answered in the next frame. They took advantage of another HU blunder to cut the lead in half after which they singled in a run and then sent one out of the park to plate two more runs. IU Southeast had the last say as HU left a runner stranded in each of their last two at bats to come up empty both frames for the 9-7 final.

Joey Butz got the starting nod for HU and spent 4.1 innings on the mound before being relieved by Camden Dice who was charged with the loss. The junior transfer tossed the final 3.2 frames and gave up four hits and four runs, one of which was unearned, while striking out one.

Lichty logged half of his team’s eight hits and collected three RBI while Ginder added a hit and three RBI.

For as easy as runs seemed to come in game one, the nightcap proved just the opposite as it was a pitcher’s duel.

Mason Shinabery tossed a gem but gave up the winning run in the first to suffer the loss. The senior hurler scattered six hits and gave up three walks while striking out four.

Offensively, Huntington managed just three hits with their best opportunity coming in the sixth when they cashed in on two of them and then loaded the based with a hit batter. With just one out, it was Brenden Bube to the rescue for IUSE as he came in on relief and worked a pair of strikeouts to get out of the inning unscathed.

Lichty, Ginder and Satchell Wilson each logged a hit to account for the Foresters’ offense in game two.

HU drops to 1-4 on the season. Next up is a road trip to IU Kokomo on Tuesday for a doubleheader at 1:00 p.m.