BASEBALL

The Huntington baseball team clinched second place in the Crossroads League standings by sweeping Marian on the road, 12-2, 16-5, Saturday afternoon in the final doubleheader of the regular season. With these two wins, HU notched the 4-0 series sweep over MU and leapfrogged IWU for the second seed in the tourney.

HU stayed hot at the plate all day for scores that resembled a football more than a baseball game. Both contests were cut short. Game one, slated as a nine-inning affair, was lopped off after seven while the nightcap finished in five.

The Foresters enjoyed a comfortable lead early on in the opener after touching home five times in the second. The guests continued to pile up runs until eventually distancing themselves by ten to force the early finish.

Jordan Malott got his team on the board with an RBI-single in the second, but it was Bryce Deckman who garnered the most praise in the frame for his three-run blast a few batters later. Malott also clocked a dinger, a solo shot, as part of a four-run fourth inning.

In addition to scoring on an error and wild pitch, Huntington posted runs on RBI-doubles by Ian McCutcheon and Langston Ginder as well as an RBI-single from Jaden Deel.

The Foresters finished with 13 hits to MU’s five. Malott racked up three hits and two RBI. Ginder added two hits and two RBI while Satchell Wilson collected a pair of base pokes.

Graham Kollen worked wonders from the mound for the complete-game win. He went the distance, striking out eight along the way, while giving up five hits, two runs and two walks. The sophomore hurler carries an impressive 7-1 record on the year.

Malott and Deckman continued their homerun derby in the nightcap with each cranking one out of the park again. This time Malott tallied a two-run dinger in the second and Deckman registered a solo blast in the fifth.

Hits favored HU 15-8 with eight of the visitors’ base smacks going for extra bases. McCutcheon paced Frame’s crew by going 4-for-5 at the plate with three RBI. He drove in his three runs on two doubles and a triple. In addition to his homer, Malott also found a hole in left for a two-run single to finish with two hits and four RBI.

Sebastian Kuhns posted two hits, one an RBI-single, and notched another RBI on a sacrifice fly. Ginder walked in a run and singled in another to finish with a hit and two runs batted in.

After skirting out to an 8-3 lead through three, HU picked up right where they left off following a three-hour weather delay to add five more runs to their total in the top of the fourth. Marian got one back in their half of the frame but then HU went right back to work to plate three more in the fifth before the game was called after the hosts went scoreless in the home half of the inning.

Tyler Papenbrock tossed the first two frames before Adam Oxley took over to earn the win. In three innings of work, he struck out two while surrendering four hits and two runs, only one of which was earned. The Wabash transfer is a perfect 6-0 on the season.

The Foresters will kick-off play in the CL tournament on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. to face the best seed from the play-in games on Wednesday.