HU splits with MVNU to open four-game series

HUNTINGTON, Ind. – The Forester baseball team kicked off its series with Mount Vernon with a split Wednesday afternoon at Forester Glen by dropping the opener 7-6 before bouncing back with a 9-2 win in the nightcap.

The day started off with a bang for Frame's crew. Satchell Wilson and Ian McCutcheon led off with back-to-back homers. Both heavy hitters sent it over the left field fence to put HU on top 2-0 right off the bat. But the Cougars didn't panic.

Both teams scored a run in the third and the fourth. The guests kept their nose to the grindstone and so began their comeback. By the sixth, the game was up for grabs as MVNU had knotted things up at 6-6.

HU had multiple opportunities over the course of the last three frames as evidenced by stranding five baserunners, but it was Mount Vernon who got something to stick in the eighth. With two outs and nobody on, the Foresters committed their fourth blunder of the game and Rider Minnick made them pay with a double that knocked in the unearned winning run.

Grant Simmons took the loss for HU having tossed four frames during which he gave up four hits, two runs, which included the unearned run in the eighth, and two walks while striking out three.

Huntington's top of the order accounted for most of their offense. As HU's leadoff, Wilson finished with two hits and an RBI. McCutcheon added three hits and an RBI in the two-hole while Langston Ginder, third in the line-up, drove in two runs with a sac fly and RBI-single. HU's two other runs came by way of sacrifice flies by Jordan Malott and Matt Wolff.

After giving up four hits, including a dinger, and two runs in the first three innings of the nightcap, Tyler Papenbrock locked in to dry up MVNU's offense the rest of the night. The sophomore southpaw gave up a hit in the fourth after which he held his guests hitless (and scoreless) over the final three frames to claim the complete-game win.

His teammates offered more than enough support at the plate to cruise to the seven-run win. Just like game one, HU went yard twice in their first at bat. This time it Ginder and Wolff who went long. It gave the hosts a 2-1 lead as MVNU got on the board first in the top of the frame.

Mount Vernon's homer in the third, which tied things up at 2-2, came at the bat of Hogan Heck but Jarret Gray was HU's answer later in the frame when he found a gap in center field to knock in the go ahead run. He padded the lead in the fifth with another RBI-single after which two mighty swings took care of the rest of Huntington's scoring.

Malott belted a three-run homer in the fifth and then Ginder finished things off with his second homer, this one a two-run blast over the right field fence in the sixth, to make for the 9-2 final. Ginder finished 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI. He also scored three times to round out big offensive numbers for the stately second baseman.

Papenbrock's numbers on the mound were equally impressive. He struck out 12 batters while giving up five hits, two runs and three walks in seven innings of work.

HU (14-7, 8-2) is back at Forester Glen at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow to host MVNU (7-5, 4-2) for another twin bill.

The Huntington University Foresters compete in 17 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 125 NAIA All-America honors and 449 All-America Scholar Athlete honors. Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S. News & World Reportranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest.