CHERRYVALE — Humboldt High worked a little overtime to earn a doubleheader sweep Tuesday.
After jumping out to a quick lead to dispatch host Cherryvale 12-3 in the opener, the Cubs rallied for two in the top of the seventh before scoring two more in the eighth to secure a 5-3 victory.
The tying rally was keyed by some nimble baserunning by Blake Isbell and Kyler Isbell in the seventh and Humboldt trailing, 3-1.
Isbell started things by earning a walk, and then moving to third on an Ellis single. Ellis then found himself caught in a rundown between first and second.
But he was able to avoid a tag, and even gave Isbell an opening to scamper home for the run.
Kaiden Barnett followed with a more traditional way of scoring by smacking an RBI double to tie the sore at 3-3.
The fun continued as the game went into extra innings in the top of the eighth.
Colden Cook laid down a sacrifice bunt with two runners on base. An errant Cherryvale throw gave Humboldt a 4-3 lead before Ellis singled in the final run.
“Their pitcher kept us off-balance and we didn’t get many good swings. The bottom of our order has really been struggling lately, so I was happy to see those guys come up so big for us late in the game,” Humboldt head coach Mike Miller said.
The rally was made possible because of the clutch pitching of Logan Page, who stymied the Cherryvale offense from the start. He allowed three hits over eight innings while striking out nine.
Ellis went 3-for-4 with a double, while Sam Hull singled three times. Evan Lucke singled and doubled. Barnett had a double. Trey Sommer and Logan Page also had singles.
Sommer had things well in control both on the mound and at the bat in the opener.
He went 3-for-3, lacking only a single for the hitting cycle. Instead he “settled” for blasting his first home run of the season while hitting a double and triple, scoring four times and driving in two.
He also pitched six innings, allowing three hits and striking out five.
“We took advantage of some early miscues by them to jump out to a good lead,” Miller said. “Trey held them down from there.”
Gavin Page had a single and double with three runs and two RBIs. Cook singled twice, while Hull had a single and two RBIs.
