Box Score Maryville College's Derek Hurt, Alden Wright and Gabe Lopez exploded on Saturday afternoon to lead Maryville College past Huntingdon College, 17-9, to claim the series win.
The trio went a combined 10-for-10 with 12 RBI, nine runs and four stolen bases, as the Scots claimed back-to-back conference victories.
Hurt went 4-for-4 with four RBI, four runs and three stolen bases, while Wright matched him with a 4-for-4 effort. The designated hitter added six RBI of his own, while Lopez was 2-for-2 with five runs, two RBI and a stolen base. Lopez was hit-by-pitch on a trio of occasions.
In all, MC punched out 20 hits, 17 runs and 14 RBI to take a 2-0 series lead over the Hawks.
Huntingdon College scored first in the top of the first. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back singled scored three runs, as Tri Overby added an RBI single with Danny Coleman Jr.'s two-RBI single. Nick Swisher added a two-RBI single of his own, giving Huntingdon a 5-0 run early.
Maryville got a pair of those runs back in the bottom of the inning, however, as Lopez was hit-by-pitch and Hurt singled to short. Wright would plate both with an RBI single, with Hurt scoring on a throwing error. After one inning, MC trailed 5-2.
The Scots set the Hawks down in order in the top of the second, before knotting the game at 5-all in the bottom of the inning. A Kolton Hicks walk, an Ian Campbell single and an error put two runners in scoring position, before Jimmy Meredith plated Hicks with an RBI groundout. Lopez earned an RBI with a single to left to score Campbell, before Wright added an RBI single to left to score Lopez, 5-5.
The game would go scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Maryville would take its first lead. Campbell singled and stole second, before Lopez was hit-by-pitch. Hurt found an RBI with a single to left, plating Campbell, before Lopez would take home on a double steal. Wright stole third, scoring on a sacrifice fly by Wright for an 8-5 MC lead after four innings.
Huntingdon cut the Scots' lead to one, 8-7, in the top of the fifth, however. The Hawks found three-straight singles to load the bases, before Andrew Knight's two-RBI single up the middle score Overby and Colton Clark.
A Rodriguez came in to shut the door on the inning, before Maryville plated five runs in the bottom of the fifth to take control of the game. Hicks doubled to right-center to start the inning, as he would score on a Jack Shuttleworth single and an error. Meredith put runners on the corners with a bunt single, before Lopez's RBI single up the middle score Shuttleworth. Meredith stole third before Hurt's two-RBI double to right scored both Lopez and Meredith. Hurt stole third, as Wright tallied another RBI with a single to center for a 13-7 lead.
Maryville added a trio of runs in the bottom of the sixth, as Hurt picked up an RBI with a double to left to plate Meredith. Wright found a pair of RBI to score Hurt and Lopez for a 16-7 score through six innings.
Huntingdon found an Overby RBI single in the top of the eighth, before the Scots answered in the bottom of the eighth with a Peyton Milam RBI single to score Hayden Hollingsworth.
The Hawks rounded out the scoring in the top of the ninth with a Ryan Meadows RBI to score Jake Elrod for the 17-9 final score.
Maryville (7-5, 2-3 USA South) was paced by Hurt, Wright and Lopez. Campbell was 2-for-5 with two runs, while Shuttleworth went 2-for-5 with a run. Drew Johnson was 2-for-5, while Hicks was 1-for-4 with two runs. Meredith went 1-for-4 with a pair of runs and an RBI, while Ryan Jones and Milam both went 1-for-1. Milam had an RBI on the day.
Rodriguez picked up the win in relief, pitching 2.2 innings of shutout ball. He allowed just one hit, while striking out three and walking two.
Huntingdon (7-3, 3-2) had 17 hits of their own, as seven players had two or more hits. Overby led the way with a 3-for-5 effort with two runs and two RBI, as Knight and Elrod went 2-for-3 each. Elrod had a pair of runs, while Knight had two RBI.
