MONTGOMERY, Ala.—The Huntingdon baseball team completed a
three-game series sweep of South Region foe Rust College on Saturday by
sweeping a doubleheader from the Bearcats, taking game one 14-1 and
winning game two 8-1, at Neal Posey Field.
With the sweep, the Hawks improved to 12-4 on the season and have
now won 11 of their last 12 games. Rust fell to 0-6 on the year.
In the opener, the two teams needed just five innings for the mercy rule to be implemented.
Senior Kyle Eller and junior Greg Clayton each drove in three runs,
while senior Josh Bennefield scored a team-high three runs in the
contest.
Senior Douglas Pate (2-1) earned the victory for the Hawks, throwing
4.0 innings of three-hit ball. Junior Ryan Payne threw the final frame,
picking up a pair of strikeouts.
Control was a problem for the Bearcats pitching staff, as they
issued 12 walks in the contest, seven of which came around to score.
In the nightcap, senior Chad Green blew a close game wide open with his second grand slam of the season in the sixth inning.
Rust scored the first run of the game, an unearned run, in the top
of the first inning. Despite being outscored 33-3 in the series, the
Bearcats scored first in all three games.
However, the Hawks settled down behind the arm of senior Blake
Gillies, who tossed 5.0 innings of two-hit baseball to earn his first
win with the Hawks. Gillies struck out seven and did not walk any in
the outing.
In addition to the blast by Green, Bennefield, fellow seniors Chris
Knight and Ben Cecil, as well as freshman Austin White each picked up
RBIs in the game.
Vashun Jackson gave the Bearcats their best opportunity to salvage a
game in the series on the mound, throwing 114 pitches in the loss.
Jackson allowed eight runs, only three of which were earned, but walked
six in the complete-game effort.
Huntingdon will return to action on Tuesday, when it hosts Hampden-Sydney at 5 p.m. at Posey Field.
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Tim Lutz
Sports Information Director
Phone: (334) 833-4579
tlutz@huntingdon.edu
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