Watson’s three-hitter helps Hawks shut down No. 14 Piedmont

DEMOREST, Ga. – Senior Zack Watson threw a complete-game three-hitter and the Huntingdon baseball team downed 14th-ranked Piedmont 14-1 on Friday night.

Huntingdon (12-10, 3-4 USA South) and Piedmont (15-6, 3-4 USA South) will meet in Game 2 of the three-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m. Central.

Watson (4-2) earned the win, striking out seven, walking four and allowing one run in nine innings. After giving up two singles, two walks and a run in the first inning, Watson held Piedmont hitless in seven of the final eight innings.

Piedmont managed its third single of the game in the eighth inning. Watson faced more than three batters in an inning just twice in the final eight innings.

Alec Raley and Landon Sessions each had two hits for the Hawks. Raley was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run and Sessions was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs. Patrick Kucera scored three runs and Robert Walker had two RBIs and two runs.

A total of 11 Hawks had either an RBI or a run in the game. Anthony Spivey, Mason Throneberry, Josh Jackson and Josh Hines each had an RBI and a run, Cheston Wesson drove in one run and Cody Shoemaker and Gunnar Peters each scored one run.

Huntingdon used an RBI single by Raley in the first inning and a sacrifice fly by Raley in the third inning to take an early 2-1 lead. In the fourth inning, Throneberry and Shoemaker each scored on a Piedmont error before the Hawks went ahead 5-1 on a sacrifice bunt by Hines.

The Hawks took an 11-1 lead in the sixth inning as they sent 12 batters to the plate. Huntingdon scored two runs on a bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded hit by pitch, two runs on an error, one run on an RBI single and one run on a ground out.

Huntingdon closed the scoring with one run in the seventh inning and two runs in the ninth.