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05.05.05
- After earning a berth in the NAIA Region VIII Tournament for
five consecutive years, the Foresters had their streak come to an end.
They received an early exit from the Mid-Central Conference
tournament after dropping a pair of one-run games losing 4-3 to Bethel
and 8-7 to Goshen.
In their opening game
against Bethel, HC held a 3-1 lead after seven innings, but the Pilots
made it 3-2 with one in the eighth and took the lead with a two-run
homerun in the top of the ninth. The Foresters got a couple
runners on in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't come up with the
key hit. Thad Frame scored on an error in the first for HC after
leading off the inning with a double, and Brian Porter belted a
two-run homerun in the sixth to account for all of the Forester's
scoring. Jeremy Rodibaugh (1-4), who came on relief of starter
Josh Clark, took the loss for HC.
In their second game of
the day, HC was burned again by a late-inning run that it couldn't
answer. The Foresters got off to a sluggish start at the plate
and found themselves down 7-2 after five innings of play, but they
began to chip away at the Maple Leafs' lead with two runs in the top
of the sixth. They then completed the comeback with three runs
in the seventh to tie it at 7-7. Goshen went scoreless in their
half of the seventh, but came up with one in the bottom of the eighth.
HC failed to respond in their final at-bat and were ousted from the
tournament. Frame had four hits, including two doubles, to lead
the Foresters and Jason Rahn added a double and two RBI. Michael
Dalton (2-2) was the pitcher of record in the loss.
HC concludes its season
with a 19-21 record.
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