Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Ben Lukens in action for the Tigers on Wednesday.
By Ray Hamill — The Tigers broke open a tight game at Arcata High School with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on the way to a much-needed 9-4 win over the Fortuna Huskies in Big 5 baseball on Wednesday.
The victory was the Tigers’ first in conference play, as they improved to 1-3 in the Big 5 and 6-8-2 overall.
After suffering a pair of one-run losses against Eureka in their recent conference opening series, and dropping all three of those games by a combined four runs, Wednesday’s win was an important one for the home team.
“We made a few errors, but we didn’t bow our heads and we continued to battle,” Arcata head coach Troy Ghisetti said. “Fortuna gave us a battle.”
The Huskies certainly did.
After giving up the opening run of the game in the bottom of the second inning, the Huskies responded by scoring three runs in the top of the third to take the lead.
But the Tigers would add three more runs in the bottom half of the inning to re-take the lead and would add to the advantage with another run in the fifth.
Once again, however, the visitors responded with another run in the top of the sixth to make it a one-run game again, before the Tigers pulled away late.
Ben Lukens got the win on the mound with another strong performance.
The junior pitcher has done a good job this season but has seen multiple games slip away because of team errors.
That, however, was not the case on Wednesday, as his teammates backed him all the way.
“Ben has been the hard-luck loser this year, but he’s kept us in games, and it was nice to see our kids stay in the game,” Ghisetti said.
Lukens threw all seven innings and allowed just one earned run while striking out 13 and walking one.
He got plenty of offensive support, with eight different Arcata players accounting for 10 hits, including Anthony Ebert, who was 2-for-2 with a double, and Alex Greenway, who went 2-for-3.
Fortuna’s Tyler Schlesiger also continued to hit the ball well and the senior has been a notable bright spot for his team this spring.
“Tyler had another great game and has been seeing the ball very well,” Fortuna head coach Max Betts said.
Schlesiger hit the ball hard and finished 2-for-3 while driving in three of his team’s runs.
Mariquis Ludd and Caden Lewis each also had a base hit for the Huskies, who dropped to 2-5 in the Big 5 and 4-10-1 overall.
Tanner Kees added a double for the Tigers and was 1-for-4, while teammate Jonah O’Brien was 1-for-2 and Canyon Martin, Finn Warner and Lukens each was 1-for-3.
Sophomore Charlie Mager also impressed on his way to a 1-for-4 day.
“He battled with his at-bats,” Ghisetti said of Mager. “He put the ball in play and he forced them to make plays.”
Chad Mussey got the start on the hill for the visitors and had three strikeouts in four strong innings, with freshman Tanner Franklin pitching the final two innings.
“Chad got the start and I thought he threw good,” said Betts, who added “It was a good game … Arcata did a good job of executing.”
The two schools will close out a three-game series with a doubleheader at Fortuna on Saturday.
