Colder weather has caused a delay in the 2020 Forester baseball season.

By Ryan Walker, Staff Writer

Forester baseball did not start out the way the team wanted, as they opened their 2020 season with six cancellations and a 1-4 record. The four losses came with tough opponents. The team traveled to Bethel Tennessee, where they split the Saturday doubleheader, and IU Southeast, where they were swept in the three-game set against the team ranked #22 in the nation. All five games thus far in the season have resulted in just a two-run game. Unfortunately, Huntington has been on the wrong side of the win column in most of them.

The Forester bats have been relatively cold to start the season, but that hasn’t stopped Daniel Lichty from staying hot. The star third baseman has hit .400 to start the season, adding a home run on the second pitch of the 2020 season. Half of his hits have been extra bases, driving in four Foresters to the plate so far in the lead-off spot. Another bat to note is Owen Young, who only had nine plate appearances last year due to injury, where he is 6-14 (.429) on the season. Hopefully, as the weather warms up, so will the bats.

A few standouts in the first few games of the season on the mound have been the seniors. Mason Shinabery has thrown 12 innings, giving up just two runs on eight hits racking up 13 strikeouts. Impressive! 2019 Crossroads League Pitcher of the Year Alex McCutcheon has also thrown for some decent numbers; in his two starts, Alex has thrown 11.1 innings with a solid 2.38 ERA, striking out 13 batters. The one-two punch for the Foresters will be vital in going back-to-back in the Crossroads League this season.

The weather has not been kind to Huntington so far this season, as mentioned before, but the team is slated for their first home game, a conference game, on March 6 and March 7 against Marian. The disadvantages of playing in colder temperatures have forced the Foresters to miss out on almost a month of baseball. In contrast, teams in warmer areas have been playing since the middle of January, playing nearly 15 games already.

Nonetheless, baseball season is officially back.