Huntingdon takes Game 2 with No. 14 Piedmont in 10 innings

DEMOREST, Ga. – The Huntingdon baseball team scored three runs with two outs in the top of the 10th inning to get by 14th-ranked Piedmont 8-5 on Saturday.

The win was the Hawks' second straight over their conference rival. Huntingdon (13-10, 4-4 USA South) took Game 1 of the series 14-1 on Friday night. Huntingdon and Piedmont (15-7, 3-5 USA South) will close out the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Central.

Patrick Kucera put the Hawks in front in the top of the 10th with a two-out single that scored Mason Throneberry and Landon Sessions. Alec Raley drove in Josh Hines on a single to make it a three-run lead.

Kucera then helped close out the game in the bottom of the 10th, earning his first win of the season on the mound. Kucera gave up a walk before recording a strikeout and forcing a fly out. A Piedmont single put runners on first and second before Kucera forced a ground out to end the game.

Kucera (1-0) pitched the final 2 2/3 innings for the win. At the plate, he was 4-for-5 with three RBIs and a run. Raley was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs and Sessions was 2-for-5 with two runs.

Throneberry had an RBI and a run, Cheston Wesson and Jay Jordan each drove in one run and Hines and Coleson Taylor each scored one run.

The Hawks led 3-1 early before Piedmont tied the game 3-3 in the fourth inning and took a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning. Huntingdon made it a one-run game in the seventh inning when Raley scored on a double by Wesson. The Hawks tied the game in the top of the eighth inning when Jordan singled to score Sessions.

After Piedmont put together nine hits in the first six innings, the Lions were held to one hit in the final four innings.