10th-ranked Hawks stumble in first two losses of the season

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The 10^th-ranked Huntingdon baseball team suffered its first two losses of the season in a doubleheader with LaGrange on Saturday.

The Hawks lost 14-11 in Game 1 and lost 17-3 in a shortened eight-inning game to close the conference series. Huntingdon won the first game of the series 5-4 on Friday night.

The losses dropped Huntingdon's record to 14-2 overall and 6-2 in the USA South. The Hawks' 14-0 record to open the season was the program's best start of the NCAA era. Counting the final three games of last season the Hawks had won 17 straight games, their longest winning streak of the NCAA era.                                                               

But on Saturday, Huntingdon could not keep pace with LaGrange (12-5, 6-2 USA South). Trailing 8-6 after five innings in Game 1, the Hawks gave up five runs in the sixth inning and one in the seventh.

Huntingdon answered with five runs in the ninth inning on a sacrifice fly by Will Cosby and a grand slam by Heath Haskins to make it a three-run game. But the Hawks could not complete the comeback.

Haskins finished the game with five RBIs and two runs on 2-for-4 hitting. Andrew Knight was 4-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs and two doubles in the first game. Wes Powell scored three runs and had two hits, Bradley Harris had two RBIs and a run, Cosby had two hits and an RBI and Chris Fisher had two hits. Garrett Breland, Adams Bragg and Ryan Meadows each scored one run.

Brooks Freeman (4-1) took the loss in 4 1/3 innings. Wallace Henry (2-1) took the loss in Game 2 in four innings. 

In the second game, Huntingdon trailed 3-2 after three innings before LaGrange pulled away. Powell was 2-for-4 with an RBI, a run and a triple. Haskins had one RBI and Cosby and Logan Gildea each scored one run.

Records: Huntingdon (14-2, 6-2 USA South); LaGrange (12-5, 6-2 USA South)

Coming Up: Huntingdon returns to action on Tuesday at Millsaps at 4 p.m.