HOUGHTON, NY— Looking to complete the five-game sweep of Empire 8 conference rival Elmira, the Houghton Highlanders settled for a split, winning the first game on the back of their offense, 9-6, before being held at bay in the second, 3-8.
 
GAME VITALS                           
Game 1 Score: Houghton – 9 | Elmira – 6
Game 2 Score: Houghton – 3 | Elmira – 8
Records: Houghton: 18-11 (10-8 Empire 8) | Elmira: 4-24 (2-12 Empire 8)
Venue: Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex, Houghton, NY | Attendance: 68/52
 
Game One: The Highlanders jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, scoring a run in each of the first two innings and two more in the top of the fourth. 
 
The Soaring Eagles answered in the bottom of the fourth when Myles Littlejohn hit a two-out single to put Elmira on the board, and Shane Hake followed with a homerun to right to tie the game. 
 
Houghton regained the lead in the top of the fifth after Wayne Rode singled to right and Zach Parr followed with an RBI double to right-center.  But Elmira answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to take a 6-5 lead.
 
The Highlanders would move ahead for good in the top of the sixth, plating three runs on three hits, a walk and two stolen bases.  They would add an insurance run an inning later off when David Wessells laced a base-hit to left, scoring Whitney Cook, who had tripled to right-center in the previous at bat.
 
With the exception of the fourth and fifth innings, Houghton starter Jeremey Wilcox pitched well enough to pick up his third win of the season.  Wilcox allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out five in the complete game effort.
 
Game Two: With Houghton leading, 3-2, Colin McLaughlin led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to left, and Joe Morrone ripped a double down the third base line, tying the game at three.  Several batters later, Luke Frontale lifted a fly ball to centerfield, scoring Morrone from third to put the Soaring Eagles on top.
 
Houghton managed to put only two more runners on base the remainder of the way, while the soaring Eagles tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh, and two more in the eighth. 
 
Ethan Cetton fell to 1-2 on the season, allowing six hits and four walks over six innings, while striking out four.  David Kruis picked up his first win of the season, tossing six innings, while conceding only five hits and two walks, striking out three.
 
KEY STATS:
>> With their game one victory, Houghton established a new single-season record for regular season wins.  The Highlanders finished with 17 regular season victories in 2015 and 16 wins in 2018. 
 
>> After committing six fielding errors in the first game, the Soaring Eagles tightened the ship, making only one in the second game.
 
>> David Wessells picked up four total hits on the day, two in each game.  He has now collected multiple hits in nine straight games.  He leads the Highlanders with 43 hits in 29 games, boosting his batting average to .384 on the season. 
 
>> Wayne Rode and Zach Parr each collected three hits in the first game, but both were held hitless in game two.  Dylan Boprey went 3-for-7 with a triple in each game.
 
>> Houghton stranded 10 baserunners in the second game, while Elmira left only three.

COACH'S CORNER:
"Obviously a split was not the result we were looking for today, but Elmira played us tough, and, quite honestly, they were better than we were in the second game.  I thought that Ethan [Cetton] pitched well enough to win, but after the second inning we really didn't string anything together.  We put some runners on but just couldn't get them in.

"Elmira has played a lot of teams tough this year.  They have either beaten, or had a game come down to the wire, against every team in our conference this year, and a few other good teams, too.
 
"In the first game, Jeremey [Wilcox] collected himself and gave us the outing we needed.  We took advantage of a few of their mistakes and had some timely hits.  In the second game they didn't make the same mistakes, and we didn't have many timely hits. 
 
"I asked a lot of our guys this weekend.  We had a couple injuries, and some pitchers throwing on short rest.  We had a play a lineup that was a little different than what it has been most of the year, but our guys left it all on the field.  I thought they played hard and just came up a few innings short of our goal.  We'll take the win from the first game, rest for the remainder of the weekend, and get back at it on Monday.  Our ultimate goal is still to play our best baseball over the next few weekends." – Coach Brian Reitnour
 
UP NEXT:
The Highlanders travel to Rochester on Friday, May 7 for a doubleheader against St. John Fisher College.  The first game of the doubleheader will count as a conference game; the second game will not.
 
Houghton then returns to the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex on Saturday, when they will celebrate their seniors in the final game of the regular season against Utica College. 
 
All three games could very well have post-season implications.