Huntingdon’s first NCAA Regional ends against 4th-ranked Salisbury

By Wesley Lyle

Sports Information Director

MILLINGTON, Tenn. – The Huntingdon baseball team's first NCAA Regional appearance came to an end on Saturday on the final day of the Division III South Regional.

The 22nd-ranked Hawks matched fourth-ranked Salisbury for six innings before the Sea Gulls pulled away late for a 9-3 win. Huntingdon finished 2-2 in the regional and ended the season with a 32-11 record. Salisbury advanced to the South Regional championship game and lost to 20th-ranked Millsaps 7-6.

"This wasn't the way we wanted to end the season, but it's like I told the guys after the game, they have a lot to be proud of," Huntingdon head coach D.J. Conville said. "This team has raised the bar and given us something to build on in the coming years.

"This week in particular, by coming up here, playing the way we did and winning the games we did, this group of guys solidified the fact that we deserved to be here. We've felt like we had some deserving teams in the past, but this group went out and earned the right to be here."

The 32 wins are the second most in a season for the Hawks during the NCAA era and one short of the school record during that span. Huntingdon's senior class finished with a four-year record of 113-54.

In the three seasons the seniors competed in the Great South Athletic Conference, they played in the conference tournament championship game three straight seasons, winning their final conference tournament in 2012.

"This senior class has definitely left a legacy," Conville said. "There's always the question of how do you want to be remembered. Do you want to be remembered as the class that played well, did a nice job and had an OK college career? Or, do you want to be the class that helped Huntingdon compete for conference titles and helped us get to our first NCAA Regional?

"This year, without a conference to play in, the only major goal they hadn't accomplished was the Regional. When we started the season 5-4, we knew we had our work cut out for us. Behind the leadership of these seniors, we responded by winning 27 of our final 34 games, including 14 straight during April. I'm proud, and these seniors should be proud too, of what they accomplished during their college career."

Against Salisbury (32-9), the Hawks fell behind 2-0 in the first inning. Huntingdon answered in the fifth inning when Jordan Freeman scored on a Grant Brown sacrifice fly to make it a one-run game. But the Sea Gulls outscored Huntingdon 7-2 in the seventh and eighth innings.

The Hawks' final two runs came in the bottom of the seventh. A Caleb Astin sacrifice fly scored Freeman and Seth Currie scored on a Joseph Odom sacrifice fly.

Freeman and Currie each finished with two hits.

Starter Joseph Fincher (7-4) took the loss in four innings as the Hawks sent five pitchers to the mound. Grant Lowman, who faced the final seven batters, finished with five strikeouts.