LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- Coming off a tough loss on Friday afternoon, the Covenant baseball team could not rebound as the Scots fell to visiting Huntingdon 4-3 and 10-4 on beautiful Saturday afternoon on Lookout Mountain.
Between the two games, the Scots recognized their two seniors, Sterling Witt and Rob Willett, along with transferring junior Ben Mason. Mason will transfer to Georgia Tech to finish his engineering degree. Witt will leave Covenant as one of the top hitters in school history as he has a batting average around .300 and over 130 hits and the school record for games started and played. Willett pitched at both the JV and varsity levels during his career and threw an inning in the second game on Saturday.
With the losses, Covenant drops to 22-10 overall. Huntingdon moves to 23-9.
Game One: Huntingdon 4, Covenant 3
Covenant scored three runs in the second inning, but Huntingdon would have the final answer as the Hawks scored twice in both the fifth and sixth innings to hold on to a 4-3 victory.
Will Cleland and Witt each had two hits, while Cleland drove in a pair of runs for Covenant. Starter Garrett Kriston (5-2) threw six solid innings but picks up the loss. Kriston allowed three earned runs on eight hits in in appearance.
Covenant took a 3-0 lead with three runs in the bottom of the second. Witt and Perry Rigby led off the inning with singles, but it appeared Covenant would leave them stranded until a throwing error by the Huntingdon shortstop allowed Andrew Beck to reach and Witt to score. Two batters later, Cleland came to the plate and singled on a soft line drive to center field that brought home Rigby and Beck to make it 3-0.
Neither team would score until the fifth inning when the Hawks scored twice thanks to Joseph Odom's two-run home run to left field, his 13th of the season, that cut the Scots' lead to 3-2. Huntingdon took the lead for good in the sixth when Grant Brown had an RBI ground out and then a throwing error by the Scots third baseman allowed Jordan Freeman to score the go-ahead run.
Covenant would get runners on first and second with two outs in its half of the sixth, but could not cash in on the chance as Huntingdon reliever Neil Lawler got the third out on a strikeout.
Huntgingdon's Joseph Fincher (4-2) picks up the win in relief as he went 0.2 innings allowing one hit. Lawler is credited with his second save of the series and fifth of the year.
Game Two: Huntingdon 10, Covenant 4
The Hawks scored three runs in the first and two more in the second as they claimed the three-game series sweep with a 10-4 win.
Caleb Astin had three hits and Odom drove in four runs for the Hawks.
David Lockwood went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while Scott Gillespie and Cleland also added RBIs for Covenant. Keith Rice (1-4) gets the loss for Covenant. Spencer Smith, Jonah Paul, and Rob Willett also made appearances out of the bullpen.
After Huntingdon scored three in the first, Covenant answered with one of its own. Lockwood singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch before being drive home on a Gillespie RBI single.
But the Hawks would score two runs in the second, two more in the fourth and one in the fifth to go ahead 8-1.
Covenant produced three runs in the bottom of the fifth to try and cut into the Huntingdon lead. Chris Rollins and K.C. Simons both had hits in the inning, Cleland drive in one with a sacrifice fly, and Lockwood continued the rally with a two-out single to left field to make it 8-4.
But the Scots would not get any closer as Huntingdon added single runs in the sixth and seventh for the final tally.
Huntingdon starter Craig Brown (5-1) gets the win after he threw 4.2 innings and allowed four runs, one earned, on five hits.
Covenant will wrap up its home schedule on Tuesday afternoon when they host Berry for a doubleheader. Game on is set for 2 p.m.
