Huntingdon baseball advances to final day of South Regional

By Wesley Lyle

Sports Information Director

MILLINGTON, Tenn. – The Huntingdon baseball team took another step in the NCAA Division III South Regional on Friday.

A day after winning their first postseason game of the NCAA era, the Hawks eliminated Bridgewater 6-2 on the third day of the South Regional.

The Hawks, who are making their first appearance in a NCAA Regional, need two wins on Saturday to claim the South Regional title. Huntingdon (32-10) will play Salisbury on Saturday at noon. With a win, the Hawks would play for the regional championship at 3:30 p.m.

"I think we have a good attitude going into the final day," Huntingdon head coach D.J. Conville said. "The guys are handling their first regional well. We lost our first game but we came back and got the shutout against Randolph-Macon on Thursday and battled an outstanding Bridgewater team today.

"Our guys came out and played good ball from the first inning to the last inning today and we gave ourselves a chance to be successful. That's what we want to do again on Saturday. We want to come out, play our game, keep giving ourselves a chance and find a way to win."

Bridgewater ends the season at 34-13.

Junior catcher Joseph Odom helped Huntingdon set the tone early with a two-run home run in the first inning. Odom, who leads Division III with 14 home runs this season, finished the game with two RBIs and three runs on a 2-for-3 day.

Grant Brown had two hits, a RBI and a run, Caleb Astin had two hits and a run and Jordan Freeman had two hits and a run. Evan Agnew finished with one RBI.

Leading 2-0, with two outs and the bases loaded in the third inning, Odom stole home to make it a 3-0 game. Brown scored on a wild pitch in the fifth inning to make it 4-1 and singled to score Freeman for a 5-2 lead in the sixth inning. Odom scored on an Agnew sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to close the Hawks' scoring.

Gavin Free (7-4) earned the win in six innings, striking out four, walking three, scattering seven hits and allowing two runs. Reliever Joseph Fincher struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit in two innings and Neil Lawler closed out the game in the ninth inning.

South Regional Info                         

2013 NCAA South Regional website: http://www.rhodeslynx.com/news/2013/5/7/BB_0507131847.aspx?path=baseball

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NCAASouthRegion

Live Stats:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/rhodes/baseball/scoreboard.aspx

Live Video:  http://www.collegetvticket.com/