BASEBALL

The 3rd-seeded Huntington baseball team suffered its first loss of the Crossroads League Tournament, an 8-5 decision, to top-seeded Indiana Wesleyan (42-12) Monday night at Wildcat Field. With this loss, HU drops to 33-15 on the year.

The Foresters got off to a fast start thanks to Daniel Lichty who sent the game’s second pitch long for an early 1-0 lead. Satchell Wilson added to the first inning excitement with a sacrifice fly that allowed Ian McCutcheon, who was hit by pitch and then stole second and third, to tag up for run No. 2.

Unfortunately, the Wildcats, ranked 16th nationally, wasted little time snuffing out HU’s momentum. After drawing even with their guests in the second, IWU strung together back-to-back doubles in the third that drove in a run each time to turn the tables for a 4-2 advantage.

A quiet fourth was the calm before the storm as Huntington unleashed for three runs in the top of the fifth. Lichty was the first to make his way home on Langston Ginder’s single to left-center. After landing on third via a pair of steals, Ginder scampered home on a wild pitch.

On his tail was Wilson, who after being drilled by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on the previously mentioned wild pitch and then cruised home on a passed ball. And just like that, HU was back on top 5-4.

Just as quickly as they reclaimed the lead, Frame and crew could only watch as Wesleyan erupted for four runs in their half of the frame to take control of the contest at 8-5. It was quiet after that as the only offense in the last four frames was a base poke in the sixth and another in the seventh, both at the bat of HU.

The loss sends Huntington into the consolation bracket where they will face the winner of Taylor/Mount Vernon at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow in an elimination game.