GOSHEN, Ind. - The HU baseball team suffered a disappointing 6-5 loss to Goshen Friday afternoon before storming back in the nightcap with a 9-3 win to split their first doubleheader against the Maple Leafs at Yoder Field. Huntington's record stands at 19-14 overall which includes a 14-8 league record.
Tyler Papenbrock was dialed in for game one. The junior southpaw didn't give up a run through the first eight innings while sitting down 15 batters on strikes and allowing just two hits and six walks. Unfortunately it wouldn't be enough as things unraveled in the ninth.
Three Foresters took the mound to try to close out the contest but couldn't make it happen. Goshen erupted for five runs to knot things up at 5-5 and then needed just one more frame to crank one out of the park to call it quits in ten.
Jonathan Baker ended up taking the loss for HU, tossing the final two outs of the ninth but then giving up the dinger in the tenth.
Offensively, the Foresters scored three times in the fourth. The first on an error in the outfield followed by back-to-back singles into right by Kade Flores and Gregory Nolasco Berroa. They were the first runs of the game for an early 3-0 HU lead.
The guests added another run to their total in the eighth on Flores' RBI-groundout and then Dylan Rost doubled in a run in the ninth to make for a 5-0 difference before the Maple Leafs clambered back in it.
HU ended up with ten hits to Goshen's five. Flores, Berroa and Rost each pounded out a pair of base knocks.
Frame's crew bounced back in the nightcap with a late game surge to secure the win. It was 3-3 through the first four innings before Huntington scored three runs in back-to-back at bats to take over the contest. As it turned out, the Foresters scored in threes the entire game with their first three runs all coming in the third.
Rost picked up where he left in game one with an RBI-double in the third and then trotted home when Matt Wolff launched one over the right field fence. The next time Wolff stepped up to the plate he knocked in two more runs with a shot to left in the fifth. Three batters later, Sebastian Kuhns' sacrifice fly pushed another run across the plate for the visitors.
Huntington's final three runs came in the sixth. After finding his way on base by drawing a walk, Sam Kestranek eventually made his way home on a wild pitch. Relatively quiet most of the day, Jordan Malott and Cam Clarkson each drove in a run with a single and double respectively to up the score to 9-3. Goshen took advantage of a throwing error to plate an unearned run in the seventh for what otherwise proved an uneventful finish.
Wolff led the charge at the plate with two hits and four RBI. Flores and Rost also logged two base smacks.
Graham Kollen spent the entire afternoon on the bump to pick up the complete-game win. He gave up five hits, four runs and five walks while striking out seven.
Huntington is back at Goshen for another doubleheader tomorrow at noon.
The Huntington University Foresters compete in 18 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 154 NAIA All-America honors and 501 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.
