FORESTERS TAKE DOUBLEHEADER FROM TROJANS
The top two teams in the Mid-Central College Conference met Wednesday for an important doubleheader. The Huntington Foresters came to Upland with the mindset of continuing to beat the contenders in the MCC on their own turf. The Trojans looked to continue their run at the top of the standings.
Huntington (18-11, 11-3) came out on top in both games. Game one was a slugfest, as the teams combined for 31 hits and 28 runs, but Huntington prevailed, 17-11. Game two was a war in the trenches, as the Foresters squeaked by the Trojans (19-11, 5-3) by the final score of 5-4.
In the first game both teams started off fast.
Huntington took a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the second, where the potent Trojan offense flexed their muscle. Taylor scored 9 runs in the inning on 8 hits, highlighted by Nate Hillery's three-run double that allowed Taylor to take a 10-5 lead.
Coming on in relief of starting pitcher Zach Vander Laan, Caleb Stertzer pitched a flawless third before running into trouble himself in the fourth inning. The Foresters scored six runs, four of which came with two outs. In the fourth inning, Andrew Drummond hit the second Huntington home run of the game. Huntington then tacked on another four runs in the fifth, and two in the sixth as five different Taylor pitchers were used in the game.
Taylor fought back as third baseman Michael Nassar hit a home run in the fifth inning. The Trojans threatened toward the end of the game, leaving multiple men on base in the waning innings. Taylor had 6 batters with multiple hits, Nassar went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, while Passiales, Kraynak, Kinzer, Otis and Emery all added multiple hit games. But on this day the output was not enough, as the final read 17-11 Huntington.
Game two started out just the way the Trojans wanted. Pitcher Chris Howell added to his team leading strikeout total with two in the first. Next senior Paul Passiales led off the bottom of the first with a home run, his third on the year. Yet it was the Foresters that continued to answer every Trojan advance, as Huntington scored two runs with two outs in the second, and another two runs in the third.
After Huntington added a run in the sixth inning, Taylor's bats went back to work. Matt Maple and Michael Kraynak started off with back-to-back singles and were advanced by a Taylor Kinzer groundout. An Emery single and an Otis double allowed 2 runs to score. Emery then scored on a passed ball to make the score 5-4. Otis was left on third though, as Nate Hillery was robbed of a game tying hit by the Huntington's third baseman.
Taylor threatened once again in the seventh. And as the TU fans got excited for a similar situation to the walk-off hit against Bethel, Taylor loaded the bases. It was not to be on this day as Passiales got forced out at home for the second out of the inning, and with the bases still loaded Huntington got a called third strike to go their way and took the game 5-4.
Leading the Trojans were Passiales, Maple, Otis, and Cassidy Emery, each recording 2 hits. Emery, Passiales and Otis recorded RBIs for Taylor. On the mound Howell ended up with 7 strikeouts while giving up 9 hits. Kraynak came in to relieve and recorded 3 strikeouts and no hits allowed.
With the Forester sweep, Taylor moves to fourth place in the conference at 5-3. Each of the top four teams have the same amount of losses, with three. Taylor now looks to rebound quickly as they face off against Goshen College (7-33, 0-12) in a home and away series. The Maple Leafs travel to Upland tomorrow, Thursday April 9th, for a 1:00pm start time.