Box Score The Oglethorpe baseball team got their season off to an excellent start Saturday in Montgomery, Ala., scoring two runs in the ninth inning to defeat the home-standing Huntingdon Hawks, 7-5.
After the two teams combined for 10 runs and a 5-5 scoreline over the first five innings, the pitchers settled in. Oglethorpe sophomore Joe Marco was particularly impressive, allowing just one hit and one run over 5.2 innings in relief.
With Huntingdon's hurlers pitching well in relief, also, the game went to the ninth inning with the same 5-5 scoreline. Sophomore shortstop Spencer Transue led off the inning with a single. That brought designated hitter Patrick Kulick to the plate. He came through with an RBI double for the first extra-base hit of his Oglethorpe career, scoring Transue and giving the Stormy Petrels a 6-5 lead. The Petrels picked up another run, as well, to take a 7-5 lead into the bottom half of the inning.
Senior pitcher David Langhan came into the game to try and close out the season-opening victory for the Petrels and came through with a solid outing. He allowed a runner to reach first with one out, but proceeded to induce a double-play groundball to end the game and secure his first save of the year. Marco wound up with the win in relief.
After falling behind 4-1 when Huntingdon scored four in the third, the Petrels fought back with four runs of their own in the fourth to take a 5-4 lead. The Petrels scored two runs on an Andre Turnquest single extended by a Huntingdon error, then scored a couple more on a passed ball and a wild pitch, respectively, to take the lead.
Huntingdon scored a single run in the fifth to tie the game, setting up the final four innings.
Turnquest and Kulick both went 2-for-5, while Transue went 2-for-4 on the afternoon and second baseman Austin Ferlita had a 3-for-5 afternoon. Marco and Langhan combined for just two hits and one run allowed in relief over the game's final 6.2 innings.
The 1-0 Petrels will stay in Montgomery Sunday to take on the Hawks in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
