12th-ranked Hawks win offensive battle with Covenant

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. – The Huntingdon baseball team opened its conference series with Covenant with a 12-10 win on Friday.

In a game that saw the two teams combine for 30 hits and 22 runs, 12^th-ranked Huntingdon put together a season-high 20 hits and took the lead for good in the seventh inning.

After building a 5-2 lead in the in the top of the fourth inning, Huntingdon (19-6, 11-4 USA South) gave up six runs in the bottom of the fourth. Huntingdon answered with two runs in the fifth inning and regained the lead with four runs in the seventh inning.

Trailing 8-7 in the top of the seventh, Wes Powell drove in Hunter Long with a single to tie the game. Bradley Harris scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Fisher to give Huntingdon the lead. Heath Haskins drove in Colton Clark with a sacrifice fly and Garrett Breland doubled to drive in Powell to give Huntingdon an 11-8 lead.

Covenant (11-13, 4-8 USA South) cut the Hawks' lead to a run in the bottom of the seventh before Will Cosby scored on a wild pitch in the eighth inning to close the scoring.

Relief pitcher Ryan Smith and the Huntingdon defense made the two-run lead hold up in the final two innings. Freshman Tucker Duke (4-1) earned the win in 2 2/3 innings of relief and Smith pitched the final 2 2/3 innings to earn his first save of the season.

Breland was 5-for-6 with four RBIs, a triple and two doubles. Fisher was 4-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs and Cosby was 3-for-5 with two runs and two stolen bases.

Harris finished with three runs, an RBI and two stolen bases, Powell had two hits, an RBI and a run and Clark had two hits and two runs. Haskins had an RBI and a run, Long scored one run and Andrew Knight had two hits.

Records: Huntingdon (19-6, 11-4 USA South); Covenant (11-13, 4-8 USA South)

Coming Up: Huntingdon and Covenant will wrap up the series with a doubleheader on Saturday. The first game is set for 11 a.m. (Central).