The Houghton College baseball split the doubleheader against the Elmira Soaring Eagles Saturday afternoon in Elmira. The Highlanders won game one 15-5 and lost game two 9-5.

After a scoreless first inning the Highlanders got on the board in the top of the second. Patrick Parsons (Wellsboro, PA, Wellsboro) led the inning off with a single to right. Trenton Unverdorben (Portville, NY, Portville) walked to put runners on first and second. Then Tage Johnson (Jamestown, NY, Frewsburg) singled to advance the runners and load the bases. Joseph Gilligan (Ringwood, NJ, Lakeland Regional) hit a sac fly to left field that allowed Parsons to score from third. Back to back RBI singles by Bryan Hodge (Thornton, CO, Community Christian) and Christopher McKay (Oakville, ON, Canada, Homeschool) scored two more runs and Enrico Sukhdeo (Georgetown, Guyana, Ashbrook) hit a sac fly allowed Hodge to score from third giving the Highlanders a 4-0 lead.

After scoreless third and fourth innings the Highlanders rallied in the fifth.  The Soaring Eagles pitching walked a run in bringing up Michael Kerr (Brentwood, TN, Hamburg ) with the bases loaded. Kerr hit a two RBI single that scored Michael Knapp (Brockport, NY, Brockport) and Sukhdeo. Then with two outs and the bases juiced again Johnson hit a base clearing double into right center giving the Highlanders an 11-0 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth the Soaring Eagles scored five runs on five hits and took advantage of two  Highlanders' errors.

In the top of the seventh the Highlanders added on some insurance scoring four runs on three hits.

In the box score the Highlanders were led by Johnson who went three for five with five RBI.

The win was credited to Kevin Cassar (Mississauga, ON, Canada, Our Lord of Mount Carmel) who pitched six innings only allowing two earned runs. The loss was given to Davis Salzman of Elmira.

In game two the Soaring Eagles scored a run in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead.

The Soaring Eagles continued to take advantage of the Highlanders errors in the bottom of the third scoring three more to jump out to an early 4-0 lead.

The Highlanders finally got on the board in the fifth when Garret Kirkpatrick (York, PA, Central York) hit a double to right center that allowed Johnson to score from first.

Elmira came right back in the bottom half of the fifth and scored another run to make the score 6-1.

In the top half of the sixth Sukhdeo led off the inning with a single. Kerr then hit an infield single that allowed Sukhdeo to score from second. Unverdorben came up to the plate and hit a double into right center that scored Kerr from second and made the score 6-3.

In the bottom of the seventh the Soaring Eagles came added on three more runs to extend their lead to six.

After a scoreless eighth inning the Highlanders came up in the ninth and scored two runs, but the Soaring Eagles got out of the jam and ended the comeback.

The loss was given to Jared Knowlton (Gouverneur, NY, Gouverneur ) and Dennis Rudolph earned the Soaring Eagles first win of the year.

The Highlanders baseball team is scheduled to play Alfred State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic complex.