Saturday, February 14, 2009 ---- The Huntingdon baseball team committed three costly fielding errors and left runners on base in each of the final five innings, in a 7-5 loss to Rhodes on Saturday at Posey Field.



The three Hawks’ (2-2) errors led to five unearned runs for the Lynx, while four of the runners’ left on base where stranded in scoring position.



The miscues started early, as Rhodes scored five runs in the second inning, four of which where unearned.



Huntingdon trimmed the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the frame when junior Ben Cecil launched his first home run with the Hawks, a two-run shot, over the left field wall. Cecil’s slam plated fellow junior Chad Green, who laced a one-out double.



The Hawks struck for two more runs in the bottom of the third inning, thanks to RBI singles by juniors Kyle Eller and Shawn Bezwiechin.



Following a pair of scoreless frames, Huntingdon had its best opportunity to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth inning. Eller opened the inning with a walk and later stole second base. Bezwiechin followed with a single, moving Eller to third, all with no one out. One pitch later, Bezwiechin broke for second, successfully swiping the bag, but Eller broke home and was gunned down at the plate. Following a walk to Green, Lynx reliever Charles Simmons worked out of the jam by getting a ground ball from Cecil, which Rhodes turned into a double play.



The Lynx added single runs in the seventh and ninth innings, while the Hawks plated their final run on a sacrifice fly by senior Brent Blackwell in the bottom of the ninth.



Bezwiechin, Cecil and Blackwell each finished with two hits for Huntingdon, while J.R. Bizzell and Brent Lindsey recorded a pair of hits for the Lynx.



Senior Brad Vest (1-2) took the loss, tossing just 2.0 innings, while allowing seven hits and five runs. Freshman Caleb Cofield allowed only one hit and one unearned run during the next 4 2/3 innings, while striking out five before giving way to junior Gary Frazier, who tossed the final 2 1/3 innings.



Andy Holt (2-0) picked up the win for Rhodes , tossing 5 1/3 innings and striking out seven. Max Gertz recorded the final two outs to pick up his first save of the season.



The two squads will conclude the weekend series with a single game on Sunday. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.