HORSEHEADS, NY— Kanta Ueno set a pair of single-season records, establishing new records for hits and RBI, as the Houghton Highlanders and Elmira Soaring Eagles split a pair of high-scoring games. Elmira took the first game, 13-4, while the Highlanders claimed the series with a game-two win, 21-10.
GAME VITALS
Game #1 Score: Houghton – 4 | Elmira – 13
Game #2 Score: Houghton – 21 | Elmira – 10 (8 IN)
Records: Houghton: 18-17 (9-12 Empire 8) | Elmira: 12-22 (6-14 Empire 8)
Venue: Holding Point Recreation Center | Attendance: 100/40
GAME #1
A six-run third inning was all the offense the Soaring Eagles would need. For insurance, though, they followed it up with a four-run fourth, taking a 10-0 lead.
Elmira starter, Logan Pizullo, kept the Highlanders bats at bay, allowing only two hits over five innings of work, walking seven and striking out two.
While Houghton managed only four hits in the game, they walked 12 times. The Highlanders stranded 12 runners on base.
Houghton did set one unique record in the top of the seventh inning: the Highlanders scored three runs, all with a different player with the first name "Ethan" at bat (Parks, Obergfell and Ernst).
GAME #2
The Highlanders rebounded quickly from their dismal game one performance, pounding out 16 hits and scoring 21 runs.
Houghton scored four runs in the top of the first, highlighted by an RBI single from
Kanta Ueno, his 51
st base hit of the year, tying him with Michael Knapp's single-season record.
The Soaring Eagles, however, quickly responded with six runs in the bottom of the first to take a 6-4 lead.
Houghton starter,
Kip Bertram, would settle in after the rocky start, not allowing another run through four more innings of work. None of the runs scored off of Bertram were earned.
The Highlanders would cut into the Elmira lead, scoring a run in the second to make it 6-5, they exploded for seven runs in the third to take a 13-6 lead, capped by a go-ahead home run by
James Nelson, the first of his career.
During the third, Ueno laced a two-RBI single to left field, not only breaking Knapp's hit record, but also breaking Wayne Rode's single-season RBI record with one swing of the bat.
While Elmira continued to battle throughout the remainder of the game, every time they scored, the Highlanders responded and pulled away further.
KEY STATS:
>> The Highlanders posted their third game this season in which they scored at least 20 runs, and their seventh game in which they posted at least 15 hits.
>>
Christian Tortorici and
Vincent Lucyszyn both picked up three hits apiece on the day.
>> Nate hall swiped the Highlanders' 90
th base of the season, the second tie in their history that they have accomplished the feat.
>>
Qingyang Feng collected two hits, both in the second game. He now has 80 total bases on the season, only one base behind single-season record-holder Wayne Rode.
>>
Ian Slate finished game two 2-for-4, ripping the 31st double of his career, which ties him with David Wessells for third place on the career leader board.
UP NEXT:
The Highlanders return to the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex this upcoming Tuesday for a doubleheader with the Penn State-Du Bois Nittany Lions at 4:00 p.m.