SPRING ARBOR, MI – The Spring Arbor baseball team traveled to Huntington on Thursday afternoon for the first two games in a four-game, late-season Crossroads League battle against the Foresters. Game one was a back and forth affair, with Spring Arbor taking an early 1-0 lead in the first, and Huntington responding right away with a run of their own. Spring Arbor would score three in the top of the fourth to go up 4-1, but Huntington would respond with two of their own to pull within one, 4-3. Huntington would tie things up in the fifth, and then neither team would score until the bottom of the ninth, when Huntington walked it off, 5-4. In game two, Spring Arbor would start early, scoring four in the first to go up 4-0. Huntington would cut into the lead in the second, pushing two across, to make it 4-2, but Spring Arbor would answer in the top of the third, scoring one to extend their lead to 5-2. Huntington would pull within one in the bottom half, 5-4, but Spring Arbor added two more in the top of the fourth to further extend their lead, 7-4. Huntington grabbed one more run in the bottom of the fourth, but couldn't push any more across for the rest of the contest, and Spring Arbor took the game two victory, 7-5.  

 
SCORES:  
Spring Arbor 4, Huntington 5 
Spring Arbor 7, Huntington 5 

LOCATION:  
Forest Glen Park | Huntington, IN 

RECORDS:  
Spring Arbor 26-18, 16-14; Huntington 20-21, 15-15 

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS: 

Game one began with some early offense for the Cougars in the top of the first, as Aiden Brunin singled, Ryan Gonzalez was hit by a pitch, and Jake Zeeb drove Brunin in on a single to left to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Huntington would respond in the bottom half however, using a leadoff triple and an RBI groundout to tie the score at 1-1.  

Each team would go scoreless in the next two frames, as Cougar starter John Hojnowski and Huntington starter Tyler Papenbrock both induced double play balls to stop rallies in the third. Both teams would get a jolt in the fourth, as in the top half, Brenden Phillips singled, and Braydon Gregory hit one deep to left for a two-run home run to give the Cougars a 3-1 lead. Zach Adams would follow that up two batters later with a double to left, and Eli DeVisser would bring him in with a double of his own to deep center to extend the lead to 4-1. Huntington would respond with a two-run home run of their own in the bottom half to pull within one, 4-3, after four innings.  

In the fifth, Spring Arbor would be held scoreless, and Huntington would pull even, using a triple and a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 4-4. From there, each team would be held scoreless until the ninth, where Huntington would begin their threat with a hit by pitch and single to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Spring Arbor would get an out on a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third, but after an intentional walk to load the bases, Huntington would come through, singling to right to bring home the walk-off run and take game one, 5-4.  

 
GAME ONE PERFORMERS 

Pitching:  

John Hojnowski: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's 

Colin Snyder: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K's 

Hitting: 

Zach Adams: 3 for 4, 2B 

Braydon Gregory: 1 for 4, HR, R, 2 RBI 

Aiden Brunin: 2 for 5, R 

Jake Zeeb: 1 for 3, RBI, BB 

Brenden Phillips: 1 for 3, R, BB 

Eli DeVisser: 1 for 4, 2B, RBI 

Joey Tessmer: 1 for 5, 2B 

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS: 

Despite the tough loss in game one, the Cougars would come out firing in the top of the first, capitalizing on four Huntington errors to push four runs across in the frame. The rally started with Brunin reaching on an error by the second baseman, and Gonzalez singling to left, with Brunin advancing to third on an error by the left fielder. That put runners on the corners with one out, and Zeeb drove the first run in as he reached on another error to make it 1-0. The next batter, Brenden Phillips would benefit from the fourth Forester miscue of the inning, reaching on another error by the seond baseman, and driving in Gonzalez to make it 2-0. Braydon Gregory would follow that up by singling up the middle to drive home both Zeeb and Phillips to make it 4-0 in favor of Spring Arbor.  

In the bottom half, Cougar starter Josh Murphy immediately got in trouble after surrendering a walk and a double, but worked out of the jam in dominant fashion, striking out the next three Forester hitters to keep the 4-0 lead after one.  

Spring Arbor would go scoreless in the top half of the second, and in the bottom half, Huntington would finally breakthrough on Murphy, using three straight singles to load the bases, and then scoring a pair of runs on a wild pitch and another single to trim their deficit to 4-2. In the top of the third, Spring Arbor would get one of those runs back, as Gonzalez singled to lead off the frame and advanced to second on a Jake Zeeb groundout. He would move to third on a Brenden Phillips single to right, and would come across on an errant pickoff throw to make it 5-2 Spring Arbor.  

In the bottom of the third, the Huntington offense would come to life again, drawing two walks after two quick outs to chase Murphy from the contest. Braylon Essian would get the call from the pen for the Cougars, and after walking the first hitter he faced, surrendered a two-run double to left, allowing the Foresters to pull within one, 5-4. Essian would get a strikeout to stifle the threat, but Huntington was right back in the contest.  

In the top of the fourth, despite the Huntington rally in the last half-inning, the Cougar offense continued to work, and responded in a big way, as Tessmer singled and Aiden Brunin hit a moonshot to left, extending the Spring Arbor lead to 7-4. In the bottom half, Huntington would get one back on an RBI double to center, but reliever Ryan Ruhlman escaped with no more damage, and Spring Arbor took a 7-5 lead into the homestretch.  

From that point on, pitching ruled the rest of the day, as neither team would score for the last three innings. Jack Will was dominant out of the bullpen for Spring Arbor, tossing those final three frames and shutting down the Foresters, giving the Cougars the 7-5 win and the split for the day.  

GAME TWO PERFORMERS: 

Pitching: 

Josh Murphy: 2.2IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K's 

Braylon Essian: Win, 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K 

Ryan Ruhlman: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K 

Jack Will: Save, 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K's 

Hitting: 

Ryan Gonzalez: 2 for 3, 2 R, BB 

Aiden Brunin: 1 for 4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI 

Braydon Gregory: 1 for 3, 2 RBI 

Joey Tessmer: 1 for 4, R 

Brenden Phillips: 1 for 4, R, RBI 

UP NEXT 
Spring Arbor will get a day off for Good Friday before returning to Huntington to complete the four-game series with the Foresters on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 PM