MONTGOMERY, Ala.—In its 2018 season opener, the nationally-ranked Adrian College baseball team rallied from an early five-run deficit to stun host Huntingdon College, 13-7, in non-conference play on Wednesday.

THE BASICS
= Final Scoreline: Adrian College 13-12-3, Huntingdon College 7-14-2

= Location: Neal Posey Field, Montgomery, Ala.; Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 72 degrees, Wind S 9 mph.

= Records: Adrian Bulldogs 1-0 overall; Huntingdon Hawks 8-4 overall

= National Rankings: Adrian ("RV" National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association/D3baseball.com, 34 points; 39th American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, 188 points); Huntingdon ("rv" NCBWA/D3baseball, 1 point)

TOP 'DAWGS
= Senior Hunter Hayes went 4-for-6 with two runs batted in.

= Sophomore Tristin Richardson had two singles and drove in a pair of runs. Classmate Gunner Rainey also had two hits.

= Senior Preston Perry pitched three innings of scoreless relief to pick up his first career varsity victory. He walked one and struck out two.

= Junior Dugan Darnell chipped in a pair of hits and a RBI.

= Sophomore pitcher David Chavez also registered a save in his Adrian debut, going two innings while allowing one earned run (2 runs) and scattering six hits.

THE OPPOSITION
= Taylor Fought was 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.  

= Jud Owens and Joseph Calvert also chipped in two hits each.

= Garrett Breland was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI.

= Will Cosby had two hits in two trips to the plate, plus two walks.

HOW IT HAPPENED 
= Adrian scored four times in the top of the seventh inning to dart ahead 7-5. Junior Jordan Torrento scored on a throwing error to knot the score 5-5, and Darnell had a RBI-single up the middle to give the Bulldogs a 6-5 lead. Richardson scored on a throwing error to make it a two-run game.

= The Bulldogs tacked on six insurance runs in the ninth to blow open a close game. Sophomore Brady Wood had the big hit with a two-run double off the bench, as the visitors took advantage of a costly Hawks error that resulted in four of the runs being unearned.

= Huntingdon, who used eight pitchers, jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning. Breland hit a two-run double to right field while Fought had an infield single to bring in the first run of the contest.

= Owens had a RBI-single in the bottom of the third to make it 4-0. Then in the fourth, Fought hit a sacrifice fly to center for a 5-0 cushion.

= But the Bulldogs began to claw back in the fifth with three runs to close the deficit to 5-3.

= With Adrian clinging to a 7-6 advantage and a run already in for HC in the eighth, Hayes threw out Calvert at home trying to score from second base after an error by the shortstop. That preserved the Bulldogs' lead they wouldn't give up. 

= The Hawks rapped 14 hits, but left 11 runners on base.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
= Adrian moves to 2-1 all-time against Huntingdon. In the teams' previous meeting before this afternoon, the Hawks won 6-5 at home on March 8, 2013.

= Adrian is now 11-14 in season openers under Coach Craig Rainey '89, who is 619-401 at the helm and one of the nation's winningest active head coaches in NCAA Division III. 

= This is the most runs scored in an Adrian season opener since 2010, when the Bulldogs defeated Wabash College, 14-4, in Birmingham, Ala.

= Dating back to last season, Hayes has 17 hits and 11 RBI in Adrian's last seven games.

NEXT UP
= Adrian continues its spring break trip South by visiting No. 14-ranked Birmingham Southern on Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern. LiveStats

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