Hawks sweep 10th-ranked BSC and 2010 national champion Illinois Wesleyan

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Huntingdon baseball team knocked off the 2010 national champion and the 10th-ranked team in Division III on Saturday.

Huntingdon opened the day with a 10-6 win over Illinois Wesleyan and closed the day with a 4-3 win in 10 innings against 10th-ranked Birmingham-Southern. The two wins came a day after the Hawks (11-5) downed eighth-ranked Adrian College 6-5.

"This was one of the best weekends Huntingdon baseball has had in a long time," Huntingdon head coach D.J. Conville said. "Today was big. Our pitching came through when we needed it, we got hits when we needed them and we did the little things you have to do to generate runs against the kind of pitching we saw this weekend."

Grant Brown, Evan Agnew and Trey Smith led the Hawks at the plate. Brown was 6-for-8 with five runs in the two games, Agnew hit two home runs, was 4-for-7 with four RBIs and three runs on the day and Smith was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs in Game 1.

Cory Belyeu (3-0) pitched six innings, striking out two, walking three and allowing five hits and three runs to pick up the win in Game 1. Neil Lawler (1-0) got the win in Game 2 with four strikeouts, two hits and a run in three innings of relief. Starter Gavin Free went seven innings, striking out eight, walking four, scattering five hits and allowing two runs.

Against Birmingham-Southern (11-4), Huntingdon gave up two runs in the first inning, rallied for a 3-2 lead in the fourth before the Panthers tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth.

In the top of the 10th, Brown singled with one out. With two outs, Joseph Odom was intentionally walked and Smith was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Tyler Blackwell drew a bases-loaded walk to score Brown and give the Hawks a one-run lead.

In the bottom of the 10th, Lawler forced two pop outs to right field and a ground out to second base to end the game.

Caleb Astin and Odom drove in the Hawks' first two runs in the third inning and a solo homer by Agnew made it 3-2 in the fourth.

In the first game, Huntingdon scored five runs in the first inning, added two runs in third, two runs in the fourth and one run in the eighth. In addition to Brown, Smith and Agnew, Astin had two hits and two runs in the game.

A Smith single scored the first two runs of the game before Odom scored on an Austin White sacrifice fly to make it a three-run game. A two-run homer by Agnew made it 5-0 in the first inning.

In the third inning, Smith scored on a wild pitch and Blackwell scored on an Agnew sacrifice fly. Brown scored on a wild pitch in the fourth inning and a Smith ground out allowed Astin to score for a 9-0 lead.

Brown scored Huntingdon's final run on a wild pitch in the eighth inning.

Huntingdon and Birmingham-Southern play again on Tuesday at Posey Field at 6 p.m.