Huntingdon baseball wins second straight 10-inning game

LaGRANGE, Ga. – Huntingdon scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning and held off LaGrange in the bottom of the inning for a 6-5 win Friday night.

This was the second straight 10-inning win for the Hawks. Huntingdon beat Point University 8-7 in 10 innings on Wednesday.

Against LaGrange, Joseph Odom led off the 10th inning with a triple and scored on a Keegan Lambeth single to give the Hawks (29-9) a one-run lead. Lambeth later scored on a Jordan Freeman single to make it a 6-4 game.

In the bottom of the 10th, closer Neil Lawler struck out the first batter he faced and forced the second batter to ground out. A double and a Huntingdon error allowed LaGrange (22-22) to score one run before a ground out ended the game.

The save was Lawler's ninth of the season. Joseph Fincher (7-2) earned the win in relief of starter Cory Belyeu. Fincher struck out two, walked one, hit one batter and didn't allow a hit in 2 2/3 innings. Belyeu struck out seven, walked three, scattered eight hits and allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings.

Odom, Lambeth, Trey Smith and Seth Currie each had multiple hits for the Hawks. Odom was 3-for-4 with a RBI and three runs, Lambeth had two hits, two RBIs and a run, Smith finished with two hits and two RBIs and Currie had two hits. Grant Brown and Caleb Astin each scored once.

Huntingdon and LaGrange will play the second game of a three-game series at noon on Saturday.