HOUGHTON, NY—The Houghton Highlanders opened Empire 8 conference play with a pair of victories, defeating the Utica Pioneers in a game one walk-off, 2-1, before taking the nightcap, 9-3. 
 
GAME VITALS                           
Game 1 Score: Utica – 1 | Houghton - 2
Game 2 Score: Utica – 3 | Houghton – 9
Records: Utica: 4-10 (0-2 Empire 8) | Houghton: 6-10 (2-0 Empire 8)
Venue: Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex, Houghton University | Attendance:
 
Game 1:
Chris VanCheri laced a two-out, 3-2 pitch into centerfield in the bottom of the seventh, scoring Jeremey Wilcox with the game-winner.
 
Ethan Cetton picked up his third consecutive victory, allowing only one unearned run on four hits, while striking out 10 batters. 
 
Cetton and Utica's Cooper Knabe battled out-for-out until the Pioneers plated an unearned run top of the sixth.  Houghton threatened in the bottom of the inning but could not even the score.
 
After Cetton shut down the Pioneers in the top of the seventh, Vincent Lucyszyn led off with the bottom of the inning with a hit by pitch, and Wilcox followed with a bunt single. 
 
After a ground ball to first moved both runners into scoring position, Kanta Ueno brought home Lucyszyn with a groundout, setting up VanCheri's heroics.
 
Game 2:
The Highlanders scored a run in the first before adding four more in the bottom of the third.  That would be all the support Houghton starter, Aiden Talcott, would need for his second win of the year.
 
Talcott tossed seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits and four walks, striking out five.
 
Houghton added three more in the sixth before Lucyszyn capped Houghton's scoring at nine runs with an inside-the-park homerun to centerfield, the first of his college career.
 
Utica would put three on the board in the ninth, but a line drive double-play to second base would snuff the rally.
 
KEY STATS:
>> In Cetton's last three outings, he has thrown 21 innings, allowing only two earned runs on 15 hits, while striking out 22. 
 
>> Talcott stretched his scoreless innings streak to 13, during which he has allowed only five hits.
 
>> VanCheri went 2-for-4 in game one, and 3-for-5 in game two, giving him five multi-hit games on the season.  He currently leads the Highlanders with a .372 average.
 
COACH'S CORNER:
"These were big wins for us today.  We continue to get quality pitching, play good defense, and hit in timely spots.  [Cooper] Knabe is a good pitcher who threw very well today.  To pick up a win against him was big for us. 
 
"We stayed focused in the first game and pulled out the walk-off. After a win like that, many teams will enter the second game flat, and that definitely was not the case with us today.
 
"Ethan [Cetton] and Aiden [Talcott] continue to throw extremely well, and collectively, we are playing far closer to our capabilities.  I'm incredibly proud of our team, top-to-bottom, these were quality team wins." – Head Coach Brian Reitnour
 
UP NEXT:
The Highlanders return to the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex on Thursday for a non-conference tilt with the Alfred State Pioneers at 6:00 p.m.