MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Huntingdon evened the USA South series with No. 2 LaGrange with an 8-7 win Saturday at Posey Field. The Panthers are 31-6 overall and 14-3 with the loss. The two teams play the deciding game Sunday at 2 p.m. EDT.
The Panthers led 1-0 after Cael Chatham's RBI single in the first. The game was stopped in the top of the second for a long rain delay. When play resumed, Rhett Hebert tripled and came home on Gabe Pallo's sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.
Huntingdon (24-12, 12-4 USA South) chased starter Dalton Brooks (5-1) with six runs in the bottom of the second. Jack Richards relieved Brooks and got the final out of the inning. Richards allowed two runs in 4-1/3 innings of work.
Chatham's two-out double in the third scored Joe Ruth to make it a 6-3 game. Down 7-3 in the sixth, David Smigelski doubled and Jared Aldridge's double drove him in to get LC back within three.
McKinley Erves led off the seventh for LC with his third home run of the season to make it 7-5. But the Hawks added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning and carried an 8-5 lead into the ninth inning.
Ruth led off the ninth with his 10th home run of the season. He is the first Panther to have double digits in home runs in a season since Robbie Shelton hit 11 in 2010. Chatham reached on a one-out error, moved up to second on a ground out, and came around to scored on Aldridge's RBI single. But reliever Tucker Duke got the final out for the Hawks to end the game.
The Panthers had 11 hits in the game. Chatham had three, including two doubles. Ruth and Aldridge each finished with two hits. Colin Whibbs had four hits for Huntingdon.
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