The Forest Hills Central JV baseball team played a very competitive doubleheader with the East Grand Rapids Pioneers on Monday afternoon, as the two split the games, each team winning by a single run.

In the first of two five-inning ball games, phenomenal pitching was the story of the game. Sophomore Sean Macleod was on the mound for the Rangers, and for the second straight start, he was tremendous. Sean allowed just 3 hits and struck out 3 Pioneer batters as he pitched all five innings for FHC. In the top of the fifth inning, EGR was able to reach base on one of 5 costly errors the Rangers made. The East runner would later come around to score on a base hit to seal a 1-0 victory for the Pioneers. East’s starting pitcher was even better than Sean, as he also went all 5 innings, struck out 7 Ranger batters, and allowed just 1 Ranger hit.

In game two, the Rangers sent freshman Joey Seurynck to the mound, and he threw 4 1/3 innings, allowing 6 hits and striking out 4 batters. FHC was able to strike first in the bottom of the first inning thanks to sophomores Maguire Mahacek and Nathan Sigg reaching base, and they both came around on a single by fellow sophomore Logan Vanlente. After East was able to get one run back in the third inning, the Rangers struck for 2 more in the fourth. Logan reached base on an error and later came around on a base hit by sophomore Jeremy James. Jeremy was then driven in on an RBI double by sophomore Sam Cooper to extend the FHC lead to 4-1 after four innings.

In the top of the fifth, with the Rangers looking to close the game out, EGR struck for 3 runs by piecing together a couple of hits as well as walks to force the game into extra innings. In the top of the sixth. East was able to score a run, forcing the Rangers to either score 1 run to tie, 2 to win, or drop both games. After sophomore Quinn Wisely ripped a base hit, sophomore Carson Mocherman was able to reach base on an error to put the Rangers in business. Sophomore Evan Van Artsen laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt, and FHC had runners at 2nd and 3rd down by 1 with 1 out. After sophomore Dawsen Beach walked, the bases were loaded. A wild pitch by East allowed Quinn to score, tying the game. After an intentional walk on Maguire to load the bases again, yet another ball got by the EGR catcher. Carson sprinted home and scored, sealing the 6-5 victory for the Rangers.

With the victory, FHC improves to 9-6 on the season. The Rangers will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Hudsonville for a doubleheader