MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Moving a state to the east, the Alma College baseball team took part in the Huntingdon College Firehouse Classic on Friday, March 6th, for a doubleheader against Edgewood College and host Huntingdon. The Scots were defeated in both games on the day, marking their first consecutive losses on the season by final scores of 16-6 and 7-3.
Alma opened the day after traveling the night prior from Mississippi for a neutral site game against Edgewood College in the afternoon. Alma took the first lead of the game and looked to continue on with their momentum and success for the trip. Alexander Kavalick reached first with a single, followed by Cameron Bleasdale a couple batters later on a fielder's choice and Cade Sutherland with a walk to load the bases. Kyler Warren followed up with a single to left field Scoring Bleasdale and Kavalick for an early 2-0 Scots lead. Sutherland then scored during the next at bat on a wild pitch to put Alma on top by three. Edgewood responded in the bottom of the inning with two of their own to make it a one-run game.
Alma again doubled the lead with a single from Justin Diaz following a Kaden Warren walk to put runners on the corners. Brant Goodpaster ended up grounding out to short, allowing for Warren to bolt home and increase the Scots lead to two. Again, the Eagles drove in a run to bring the lead back to one in the bottom of the second, not letting the Scots pull away early on.
After a scoreless inning from the Scots, Edgewood tied the game in the third and would take their first lead of the game in the fourth as they tacked on another five runs to open up the scoring differential, putting the Scots in their first deficit of the game.
Alma responded in the fifth as Tolson doubled and Bleasdale singled to put two runners into scoring position, allowing for Sutherland to single and knock in Tolson for Alma's fifth run. Edgewood again responded with three more runs to increase their lead once again, bringing the score to 12-5. Two more runs in the sixth put Alma down by nine before a Bleasdale single would score Kavalick who reached on a single and advanced to third on a Tolson double for the Scots sixth run, but Edgewood would add on two more by the ninth inning and Alma would drop the early game 16-6.
Brady Sage started on the mound for Alma, striking out two. Tyler Lasley came in relief also striking out two, followed by Josh West and Jaiden Shufeldt, who made his collegiate debut. Roman Forcia closed out the game on the mound for Alma, adding four more whiffs to the team total.
Returning to the dirt for the nightcap, Alma faced off against host Huntigdon, looking to not pick up consecutive losses on the year and add another win to the total. Alma looked to have forgotten the early game and looked to take control of the second game as Charlie Chmielewski, Tolson and Bleasdale all drew walks to load the bases. Two batters later, Kavalick also rang in a walk to bring a run in and give Alma the first lead of the game. Huntingdon fought back and collected two runs in the bottom of the first to take their first lead and put the Scots down after one. Again, the Sots patience at the plate showed in the second as another two walks coupled with a fielder's choice earlier in the inning loaded the bases again for Alma. Bleasdale took advantage of the situation at hand and sent a double up the middle, scoring Grady Pieratt and Chmielewski to put Alma up two, 3-1.
Huntingdon offense would stand the test over the remainder of the game though as the Hawks would score the rest of the runs following the second inning. After tying the game in the bottom of the second, two runs came in the seventh and two more came in the eighth to take the game over Alma at home field, 7-3.
Josh Soneral started on the bump for Alma recording one whiff in his time. Kaden Warren took to the mound in relief, striking out four, while Ryan Koob and Kenny Fistler each saw action and recorded a K each.
Alma will now have Saturday off before playing a single in Franklin, Indiana to round out spring break. First pitch for the late addition game is scheduled for 1:00 PM at Indian Creek High School, an all-turf facility.
