MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Senior Chad Green hit a grand slam in the
bottom of the eighth inning of a tie game to give the Huntingdon
baseball team a 6-2 win over Millsaps on Wednesday at Posey Field.
With the win, the Hawks (6-3) improved to 2-11 all-time in the
series (7-3) and in the process picked up their first win against the
Majors since March 13, 1981, an 8-3 Huntingdon victory. The Hawks have
now won five consecutive games and six of their last seven.
“I think right now we are playing with a lot of confidence,” head
coach D.J. Conville said. “It was nice to see us hit, pitch and play
good defense against a quality team.”
Green made the most of his lone hit of the game, picking up his
first RBIs of the season with the grand slam. The Alexander City
native, hammered a 1-1 offering from Wes Perkins over the left field
fence to break open a 2-2 game.
“I took an offensive timeout and told Chad not to swing at the
slider unless he had two strikes,” Conville said. “I told him to sit
dead red and when he rounded third that exactly what he told me. He
said he wasn’t going to let him beat him with the slider and he didn’t.
That hit was so well deserved. Chad is one of our captains and is such
a good kid. No one deserved it more than him.”
Senior Chris Knight led the Hawks at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a
RBI, to raise his season batting average to .474. Senior Kyle Eller
added a double, while fellow senior Josh Bennefield added a run-scoring
single to put the Hawks on the board.
Lost in the Green clutch hit was a strong pitching performance from junior Sam Griffin, who did not factor in the decision.
Griffin needed just 94 pitches to throw the first 7.0 innings,
scattering six hits, while striking out five. The Jackson, Ala., native
allowed just two runs, before giving way to fellow junior Ryan
Harrison, who earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief.
“Sam Griffin was outstanding today,” Conville continued. “He bounced
back from a rough outing on Sunday and was really locating his change
up and throwing his curve ball for strikes. He did a nice job of mixing
in his fast ball and they really didn’t know what was coming.”
Elliot Varney took the loss for the Majors, after coming into the
game following an injury to starter Blake Boleware. Varney allowed
three runs on two hits in one inning of work.
Boleware kept the Hawks in check for much of his outing, tossing 6.0
innings of three-hit ball, while allowing just one run. Perkins closed
the game out, giving up the Green homer, while striking out one.
Jeremy Aliff and Josh Ordeneaux each had two hits for the Majors.
Huntingdon will return to action on Saturday, when it plays a pair
of games, first against Arcadia at 11:30 a.m., and later against Mount
St. Joseph’s at 3 p.m. Both games will be played in Birmingham.
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Tim Lutz
Sports Information Director
Phone: (334) 833-4579
tlutz@huntingdon.edu
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