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By Andy States
SMAC Content Manager

After graduating an accomplished group of seniors that comprised most of its roster two years ago, Huntingtown's baseball team spent last year developing a younger group of players. That group, still junior-heavy this season, may have entered the season without the spotlight on it, but that could be changing given this season's results.

"We were under the radar, but it's not a bad thing," Huntingtown's Tony Bowen said. "We knew we had a decent team and could come out and beat people."

On Friday, the Hurricanes capped a busy, four-game with a 16-11 win over the visting Calvert Cavaliers. After enduring a 15-day, weather-induced layoff, the Hurricanes went a perfect 4 for 4 through the week, including one-run wins over Chopticon and Great Mills.

On Friday, the Hurricanes overcame a pourous defensive effort with a prolific day at the plate to avenge their only loss of the season to their county rivals. Huntingtown smacked four home runs, including two off of Bowen's bat, did not go down in order once and scored in all but one inning in rolling up 16 runs against Calvert.

"We went 4-0 this week. We try to go week-to-week," Huntingtown coach Guy Smith said. "We came out with four games this week and had four wins so we're very excited about that."

One of the reasons for the successful week was the bat of Chris Gaines. Gaines opened the week by hitting three home runs and driving in eight in the Hurricanes' 12-5 win at Patuxent on Monday. On Friday, Gaines hit a three-run shot over the left-field fence with two outs in the first inning to give Huntingtown the early 5-2 lead.

In Huntingtown's first meeting with Calvert (11-5, 9-5), the Cavaliers stomped the Hurricanes 16-4 in five innings while Huntingtown (13-1-1, 11-1-1) was unable to keep pace against Calvert start B.J. Greening. The hosts had no trouble scoring on Friday.

After Calvert tied the game in the top of the second, Spencer Wolfe hit a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom half to put Huntingtown ahead to stay. The hosts added three in the third, then another two in the fourth -- the first on a solo shot by Bowen. Huntingtown scored four more in the fifth, including a Bowen two-run shot, to push the lead to 16-7.

"I knew we could hit the ball," Gaines said. "We hit [Greening] well the last time. He's a great pitcher. To come out and get as many hits as we did is great for the team and builds us a lot of confidence."

Huntingtown scored 38 runs in its four games during the week, with production coming from all over its lineup.

"When you're scoring every inning and winning every inning that says a lot for your lineup," Smith said.

Friday's win was also a huge hurdle for the Hurricanes in their quest to claim a second SMAC championship in the last three years. The Hurricanes have a two-game edge over North Point (14-3, 12-3) in the loss column with three games left on the slate. But just as big for Huntingtown on Friday was the chance to avenge its only season loss to its county rival.

"We wanted it real bad," Bowen said. "Lat time they spanked us.

"We know all the players -- county rivals, bragging rights, pretty much. It was a huge game to us even though it wasn't that big a deal."

Huntingtown 16, Calvert 11
C    2 3 1  0 1 0  4 - 11 16 3
H    5 2 3  2 4 0  x - 16 12 5
WP: Lusby, LP: Greening
2B - Crigger (C), Greening (C), Bryner (C), B. Gaines (H); HR - Bowen 2 (H), C. Gaines (H), Wolfe (H)

astates@digitalsports.com