Freshman Carson Custer made his debut for the varsity baseball team against Kenowa Hills on Friday, as he pitched four innings on the mound in an 11-5 loss for the Rangers. Other than Carson, junior Joe Robertson and senior Brady Price led the way at the plate by driving in two of the team’s five runs.

After bouncing back against Northview to end the five-game skid, the Rangers looked to face one of the best teams in West Michigan: Kenowa Hills. The team had high hopes coming into the game after coming off of a great win.

In the first inning, Kenowa Hills got started by putting up two runs on the board with a two-RBI single that gave the Knights a 2-0 lead early. FHC bounced back in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of its own. Brady got on with a single and after a strikeout, fellow senior Nathan Sigg also got on with a single and advanced Brady to third. Right after Nathan, junior Joe Serunyck hit a double into right field that scored both Brady and Nathan; the game was all knotted up at two. Joe Robertson got the other run in the inning for FHC with a single into right field that gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead going into the second.

Kenowa would add an extra two runs in the top of the second and after a 1-2-3 inning by FHC in the bottom of the second, the Rangers found themselves down yet again. Kenowa went scoreless in the next two innings after Carson got three more strikeouts on the day. The Rangers bounced back to take the lead after a series of doubles in the third inning by Joe Seurynck and senior Sean MacLeod that tied up the game at four. Brady drove in a run in the fourth inning that scored Joe Robertson to give the Rangers a 5-4 lead. 

The Knights, as they had been doing all game, got another run in the top of the fifth that tied the game at five. FHC’s offense was pretty uneventful after the first four innings with only one hit after that point. Kenowa broke it open in the sixth and seventh innings, putting a three-spot on each inning to give the Knights a big 11-5 cushion. The Rangers went 1-2-3 in the seventh inning, sealing the deal for the Knights in a big 11-5 win over the Rangers.

The team is nearing the end of the season with a huge push to get into the playoffs. FHC’s record is now 11-12 with its next matchup being against Byron Center on Tuesday, May 18 at 4:15 PM at Byron Center High School.