BASEBALL

The 3rd-seeded Forester baseball team dug themselves an early hole Monday afternoon and never fully recovered, falling to 2nd-seeded IU Southeast 17-7 in seven innings on opening day of the NAIA National Championship at Bellevue’s newly constructed Renner Dennis Outdoor Athletic Complex.

No strangers to one another, the two programs met for the 12th time in the last five years with the Grenadiers improving to 7-5 in the series. IU Southeast wasted no time flexing its offensive firepower, launching a two-run homer in the opening inning before scoring at least two runs in each of the next three frames to race out to a commanding 13-0 advantage.

The Foresters finally broke through in the sixth when Deklan Thompson crushed a solo homer beyond the center field fence, marking HU’s first run of the afternoon and cutting into the deficit at 13-1. Huntington kept the inning rolling as Owen Willard ripped a double and Cam Clarkson followed with an RBI infield single. Keifer Wilson later added a sacrifice fly to trim the margin to 12-3.

IU Southeast answered with three more runs in the home half of the sixth to move within an inning of the run rule, but the Foresters showed some fight in the seventh.

Trailing 15-3, Johnnie Ankenbruck drew a walk and Thompson worked another free pass before Kade Flores reached to load the bases for Jace Fowler. The HU centerfielder delivered the biggest swing of the day for the Foresters, blasting a grand slam over the right-center wall to suddenly breathe life into the dugout and extend the game at 16-7.

The rally proved short-lived, however, as the Grenadiers answered in the bottom half with a walk-off RBI single to end things early.

Huntington managed six hits in the loss with Fowler leading the charge by going 2-for-4 with a double, grand slam and four RBI. Thompson scored twice and homered while Clarkson added two hits and an RBI. Willard also doubled and crossed the plate once.

The Grenadiers pounded out 18 hits, including four home runs, led by Coulter Hamilton who finished a perfect 4-for-4 with two homers, six RBI and four runs scored. Trevor Goodwin added three hits and five RBI in the win.

Five different Foresters saw action on the mound. Starting pitcher Max Engle suffered the loss after allowing six runs on five hits and three walks while striking out two over two innings. Keegan Shovlain provided a bright spot out of the bullpen, fanning four over two innings of relief work.

Huntington falls to 39-13 on the year and will now face 5th-seeded St. Ambrose Tuesday at noon ET in an elimination game.