BASEBALL

The Huntington baseball team dominated Bethel Saturday afternoon at Forest Glen with a 14-4 victory, cut short by the mercy rule after seven, before cruising to a 13-1 win in the nightcap. With these two wins, the Foresters take the regular season series 3-1 over the Pilots.

Coach Frame’s crew broke the game open with a seven-run fifth inning, highlighted by a series of clutch hits and aggressive baserunning. Cam Clarkson kicked off the productive inning with a two-run stand-up double with Deklan Thompson and Beyonce Paco Paulina also cranking out RBI-hits. Dylan Rost walked in a run, one of three free passes in the frame, while Kade Flores also collected an RBI as a hit batter with bases loaded.

Zach Pelletier sealed the win with a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh, capping off a strong offensive performance that ended in walk-off fashion as his dinger put ten runs between the two squads which was enough to call it quits two frames early.

The top of the order came up big for HU with the first five batters combining for 12 of the team’s 14 hits and nine RBI. Batting clean-up, Clarkson fueled Huntington’s explosive offense with three hits and three RBI. Thompson as lead-off and Paulina, in the two-hole, each collected three base knocks and an RBI while Pelletiere, who followed Clarkson, finished with two hits and a pair of RBI. Beldon Glasgow added a hit and two RBI at the three-hole.

RJ Anglin earned the win on the mound having posted eight strikeouts while giving up seven hits, four runs and six walks. He tossed the first 6.2 innings before being relieved by Jonathan Baker who threw just two pitches before  an impressive defensive play for the third out saw Paulina throw out Logan Bevier trying to sneak home on a double steal.

The hosts completed the sweep over BU with a convincing victory in the nightcap. Tyler Papenbrock was lights out on the mound, earning the complete-game win by allowing just one run on six hits while walking three and striking out six.

Much like their first game, the Foresters tallied 14 hits and erupted for a massive seven-run inning enroute to the blowout. The scoring spree in the fifth was highlighted by RBI hits from Glasgow, Clarkson, Pelletier, and Dylan Rost, with Rost’s two-run triple to left center highlighting the onslaught.

The lone Bethel run came in the sixth, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the Foresters.

With these wins, HU improves to 11-15 overall, 6-10 in CL action. The Foresters return to Forest Glen for their fifth straight home doubleheader on Wednesday to take on Trinity Christian at 3:30 p.m.