MONTGOMERY, AL – The William Peace Baseball Team dropped a pair of pitchers duels to Huntingdon this afternoon. The Pacers fell in game one, 3-1, followed by a 4-2 loss in game two.
Game One: Huntingdon 3, William Peace 1
Wes Dumford turned in a solid performance on the mound as he typically does but couldn't get any offensive support in a 3-1 loss. Dumford (0-5) threw all eight innings, allowing only three runs on seven hits, but the Pacers only managed six hits themselves, pushing one run across the plate in the eighth.
Huntingdon finally got to Dumford in the sixth. Patrick Kucera drew a leadoff walk and scored on Anthoney Spivey's infield hit. Will Pharis singled through the right side to score Jordan Freeman and make it 2-0.
WPU got one back in the eighth after loading the bases, as Trevor Nanny singled to right with one out, followed by singles from Hunter Allen and Trey Hathaway. Tyler Klinedinst walked to bring home Nanney, but a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning stifled the Pacer's comeback hopes.
Jackson Cruce (5-2) allowed one run on five hits in 7.1 innings of work for the win. Mason Throneberry picked up his sixth save of the year throwing a scoreless 1.2 innings.
At the plate, Braxton Lamm, Jacob Ennis and JT Howington chipped in with one hit apiece for the Pacers. Spivey had a pair of hits to pace Huntingdon. Freeman added a hit and two runs scored, while Pharis had a hit and knocked in a pair.
Game Two: Huntingdon 4, William Peace 2
Christian Neal gave WPU its second winning effort of the day on the mound, but the Pacers came up short in another two run game. Neal (1-5) pitched all eight innings, giving up three earned on six hits and six strikeouts.
The Pacers (1-21, 1-19 USAS) surrendered an unearned run in the bottom of the first, but they took their first lead of the day with two runs in the sixth. Josh Clark singled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on Neal's double to center. Lamm drove in Clark with a single through the right side. Neal came home on a sacrifice fly from Ennis.
The Hawks (16-11, 15-8 USAS) answered in the bottom half of the sixth to tie the game. Pharis came through with a two-run homerun in the bottom eighth to give Huntingdon the 4-2 win.
Howington and Trey Hogan both collected three hits apiece for WPU. Clark and Neal both singled and scored. Lamm had a hit and an RBI, while Nick Cole also singled.
Zach Watson (3-2) earned the win, allowing two runs on nine hits in eight innings pitched. Kucera notched his first save of the year pitching the ninth. Pharis finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored.
WPU takes on Huntingdon for one more tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
Stay up to date with William Peace Athletics via social media: Like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
