Huntingdon splits on Saturday, but wins first conference series of the season

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon baseball team pounded Covenant College in Game 1 on Saturday and came up a run short in Game 2. The Hawks took the first game 17-5 and lost the second game 10-9.

With Friday night's 7-2 win, Huntingdon (17-5, 2-1 Great South Athletic Conference) took two wins in the first conference series of the season.

"This was a good series win. Covenant has a good team and we had two outstanding wins," Huntingdon baseball coach D.J. Conville said. "But the best part of the weekend was the way we played the last six innings of the third game.
"We were down big, but our guys showed their heart. We battled back and made a game of it. If I hadn't made a bad decision at the end, we were in a position to come back and win."

Covenant (8-8, 1-2 GSAC) jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first three innings of the final game and led 9-1 in the fourth inning. But the Hawks rallied.

A run in the third inning, three in the fourth and three in the sixth made it a 9-7 game. Covenant led 10-7 entering the bottom of the ninth.

In the ninth, a Covenant error allowed Grant Brown to score and make it a two-run game. With two outs and runners on first and third, Huntingdon's Austin White singled to right field. Joseph Odom scored from third and freshman Jordan Freeman rounded second and headed for third.

Conville, seeing the Covenant right fielder misplay the ball, waved Freeman home. Freeman was tagged at the plate for the final out.

Conville took responsibility for the play and reiterated how pleased he was with his players' determination to win.

"We were down 7-0 right off the bat, but our guys didn't quit," Conville said. "I'm proud of our guys for getting back into the game and giving us a chance to win. That said a lot about our guys' character."

Freeman, a freshman from Prattville, had a big series for the Hawks. The third baseman was 6-for-11 with a grand slam, seven RBIs and five runs in the three games. In Saturday's first game, Freeman was 3-for-4 with four RBIs and four runs. He belted a grand slam in the first inning to give the Hawks a 4-0 lead.

A two-run single by Cameron Lewis and a Brown RBI in the third inning put the Hawks in front 7-0. Huntingdon made it 11-1 in the fourth inning with RBI singles by Lewis, White, Evan Agnew and Kevin Plyler.

Trey Smith and Agnew each drove in one run in the fifth inning before Huntingdon closed its scoring with four runs in the eighth. A Plyler triple brought in two runs, a Brown double scored one run and a Hunter Smith RBI scored the Hawks' final run.

Brown was 4-for-10 on Saturday with four RBIs and four runs, Agnew was 4-for-6 with a home run, three RBIs and four runs and White finished the day 4-for-9 with two RBIs and three runs.

In Game 1, Lewis was 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs and Plyler was 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a run. In Game 2, Seth Currie had two RBIs.

In Game 1, Grant Lowman (2-1) picked up the win in six innings. Tate Fowler pitched three innings of relief. The two combined for five strikeouts and allowed five runs and nine hits. Micah Mabe took the loss for Covenant.

Cory Belyeu (4-1) took the loss in Game 2 in 2 1/3 innings. Reliever Joseph Fincher allowed three hits and one run and struck out five in five innings.

Huntingdon travels to Millsaps on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. game.