INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The HU baseball team kept their hopes of a second place finish in the regular season standings alive by picking up a pair of road wins, 6-5, 5-2, over Marian Friday afternoon.
With the sweep, Frame and crew move to 33-14 overall, 25-9 in league play. IWU, currently one game ahead of HU with a 26-10 CL record, wrapped up their regular season by splitting with Spring Arbor today. Should Huntington win both games tomorrow, they would leapfrog IWU for the second spot in the regular season standings.
The Foresters scored all six of their runs in the sixth frame of the opener. With bases loaded, Jarret Gray started the scoring frenzy with a double into right that drove in two runs. The bases were full again after Sebastian Kuhns was hit by a pitch and then Jordan Malott took one for the team too to push another run across the plate.
Back-to-back-to-back singles by Bryce Deckman, Satchell Wilson and Ian McCutcheon resulted in three more runs coming in for the visitors.
The Knights scored first in the third and then found home again in the seventh for a 6-2 score heading into the ninth where the hosts made some noise to keep HU guessing. Down to their last out with two runners on, MU's # Davenport smoked a three-run shot over the right field fence to pull his team within one at 6-5.
Grant Simmons finally snuffed out Marian's hopes of a dramatic finish when he worked a ground out to preserve Huntington's win and pick up the victory on the mound. After Max Meisner tossed the first 2.2 innings, Simmons spent the rest of the afternoon on the bump. His final numbers included striking out three without giving up a walk while surrendering nine hits and four runs.
McCutcheon finished a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate with an RBI. Gray added two hits and two RBI while Malott posted a pair of base pokes to go along with an RBI.
The nightcap had a handful of similarities to game one. The Foresters did most of their damage in one frame, this time it was the fifth. Wilson smacked a two-run blast over the left center fence and several batters later, Huntington took advantage of an error for run No. 3 after which a double steal allowed Langston Ginder to sneak home to cap off a four-run inning.
Matt Wolff made it 5-0 by doubling in a run in the top of the seventh. The Knights had been held in check until their turn in the bottom of the seventh when Davenport again sent one yard, this time for a two-run shot. His big swing came with no outs, but Noah Arbuckle stayed the course to coax three of the next four batters into outs.
Arbuckle went the distance for the complete-game win. He took a five-hit shutout into the seventh before giving up the homer. He fanned six batters while giving up six hits, two runs and a walk.
Tomorrow's twin bill at Marian is HU's final regular season doubleheader. Opening pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
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 Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest.
