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Foresters to play for Crossroads League Tournament title

The Huntington University baseball team plays this afternoon, Wednesday, May 9, against Marian for the chance to repeat as Crossroads League Tournament champion and punch its ticket to the NAIA National Tournament.

The Foresters, 23-23, defeated Taylor, 2-1, in the afternoon game before edging Marian, 9-8 in the evening, for that shot at repeating.

Jamar Weaver not only smacked a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to provide HU with the winning runs in the second game, but he wound up the winner on the mound with some clutch relief pitching. With the score tied at 7-7 and the go-ahead run in scoring position, Weaver coaxed a fly ball out of Marian’s Zack St. Pierre to end a four-run rally for the Knights.

Giving himself a two-run cushion to work with in the ninth, Weaver gave up one run but closed the door.

Marian held a 3-1 lead after three innings, but the Foresters scored two runs in the fourth, three more in the fifth and one in the eighth to take a 7-3 lead before Marian rallied back.

Weaver wound up with two hits and three runs batted in, and Tyler Zimske added two ribbies. Donovan Clark and Kyle Selvey each had two hits and an RBI.

Alex McCutcheon threw the first 5.2 inings, yielding three earned runs on seven hits, with three strikeouts and two walks. Fresh off a nine-inning shutout on Monday, Colton Punches went another two innings and yielded four runs, but none earned, on five hits, with two strikeouts, before the baton was handed to Weaver, who had only thrown 13.2 innings during the season.

Adrian Perez had a walk-off single in the ninth inning to push the Foresters past Taylor in the first game. Connor West and his Taylor counterpart threw blanks for the first six innings before HU pushed a tally across the plate. Taylor matched it with one in the eighth inning.

McCutcheon threw the final 1.1 innings hitless and got the win.

West went the first 7.2 frames, giving up one run, but none earned, on five its, with five strikeouts and seven walks.

Perez had both RBI for the Foresters, who wound up with six hits in the contest.

HU had a three-run home run taken off the board in the sixth. After Hunter Losekamp seemingly put the Foresters up with a two-out bomb, it was ruled that the lead runner, Weaver, did not step on home plate and as such was charged with HU’s third out of the inning, negating the big hit.