BASEBALL

In comeback fashion, the 5th-seeded Cougars of Mount Vernon knocked the Forester baseball team, seeded 3rd, out of the Crossroads League Tournament Tuesday afternoon by handing HU a 4-2 loss at Wildcat Field.

The loss drops HU to 33-16 on the year while the win for Mount Vernon (32-18) sends them to the championship game where they will face top-seeded Indiana Wesleyan tomorrow afternoon. IWU remains undefeated so the Cougars will have to pick them off twice for bragging rights to the tournament championship trophy.

Facing left-handed pitcher Jake Glover, who went the distance, Frame’s crew posted five hits which included stringing together three in the third to account for both runs. Down one with two outs, Eli Knust reached base on a MVNU throwing error to set up Daniel Lichty’s RBI-double into center. Lichty then motored home on an Ian McCutcheon single. It made for a 2-1 HU lead that lasted until the Cougars’ final at-bat.

After managing just six hits through the first eight frames, MVNU came out swinging in the ninth. After leading off with back-to-back singles, the Cougars pounded out a run-scoring double and then sandwiched an RBI-single with a pair of perfectly executed squeeze plays for base hits to touch home three times.

While Satchell Wilson landed on second to open the bottom of the ninth, the Foresters couldn’t return the favor, snuffing out their bid for the program’s ninth league tournament championship.

Mason Shinabery took the loss for HU having tossed the final two frames where he gave up seven hits and three runs while striking out one.