FERRIDAY, La. &045; For Huntington, it was the same old story &045; not very many hits, but boy did the Hounds make those hits count.

For the fourth time in as many games, Huntington head coach Mitch Ashmore had to sweat out a close one Tuesday night against Central Academy. His team trailed 3-2 going into the fifth inning when the Hounds scored three runs to take the lead for good and claim a 5-3 win.

&uot;I feel better now than I did,&uot; Ashmore said. &uot;That’s what we’ve been doing. We don’t bunch a lot of hits, but we score runs when we get a couple hits.&uot;

With the win, Huntington (17-5) took a 1-0 lead in the three-game series over Central Academy (18-7). The Hounds will hit the road Thursday to play Central in the second game of the series at Macon and return for Game 3 at Huntington Friday if necessary.

Central opened the scoring in Tuesday’s game with a single from Ross Brown, who came home on Tony Suddorth’s double.

Huntington came right back in its half of the first with two runs. After the Hounds’ first two batters got out, Trey Corbett started things off with a triple and came home on Ples Arthur’s single. Arthur scored on Trey Keith’s double, giving the Hounds an early lead.

Central Academy retook the lead in the fourth. Matthew Aaron hit a home run to dead center to tie the game. Clint Brown followed that with a single and eventually scored on a passed ball.

Huntington came back in the fifth inning, again doing most of its damage with two outs. Chad Thomas singled. Trey Corbett grounded out, moving Thomas into scoring position for Arthur, who knocked him home to tie things up. Keith singled and Huston Eliser walked to load the bases for Austin Butler, who knocked in Arthur and Keith to put the Hounds up 5-3.

&uot;When Austin Butler got his bases-loaded single, that was huge for us,&uot; Ashmore said.

Ashmore credited much of his team’s success at the plate to the senior catcher Arthur, who had two clutch singles in the game.

&uot;Ples Arthur really stepped up big today,&uot; Ashmore said. &uot;He drove in a run to put us up early in the game and drove in the run that tied the game.&uot;

Arthur’s explanation was simple. He had to get hits, so he did.

&uot;We hit when we had to,&uot; Arthur said. &uot;We got people on the bases, and there weren’t too many times with runners in scoring position that we didn’t clutch up and hit.&uot;

In what has become the Hounds’ hallmark, Huntington showed generally strong defensive play and got a solid performance from pitcher Jacob Bonnette, who pitched six strong innings, allowing three runs and striking out eight.

&uot;Bonnette threw a good game,&uot; Ashmore said. &uot;He did what I asked him to do and got us to the seventh. (Trey) Brasher came in and closed things out from there.&uot;

Brasher got the save, coming in for the seventh inning and inducing three groundouts to get the Hounds the win.

&uot;I feel real confident (when Brasher comes in),&uot; Arthur said. &uot;I know 99 percent of the time he’ll get us out of the inning.&uot;

Central Academy head coach Brach White was disappointed in his team’s offense and its defense.

&uot;We usually score more than three,&uot; White said. &uot;We left guys on base too much, but credit their pitcher. He did a great job. The defense really played well behind him.&uot;