The Andover Huskies defeated the Centennial Cougars 18-17 on Thursday afternoon. It was a game that will likely give pitchers from both team nightmares for weeks to come.

In addition to 35 runs, the game featured 35 total hits, 12 extra base hits, 12 different pitchers, close to 400 pitches, and took over 3 hours to complete. The Huskies lead the entire game but credit the Cougars for not giving up and erasing a lead that at one point stood at 10 runs.

Andover opened the scoring fest with 5, two-out, runs in the second inning aided by a walk, a wild pitch third strike, a single by Nate Stong and doubles by Nick Weeks, Tyler Evans, and Wade Satzinger. The Cougars responded in the bottom of the third with 3 runs only to see the Huskies add two more in the 4th when Davis Johnson doubled, Patrick O'Donnell hit an infield single and Evans walked to load the bases. Kyle Gausman ground to the short stop but the put out attempt at third didn't connect. Brady Johnson followed with another groundball to short that resulted in a fielders choice with everyone being safe and the run scoring.

But the Cougars came right back with 3 in the 4th when, with two outs, Diggins reached on an error and Dewitt singled to right. Pitcher Kyle Gausman balked Diggins and Dewitt to 3rd and 2nd and a Piette double to left score two. Kallevig reached on an error that allowed Piette to score from second. Austin Strombeck relieved Gausman and Marolt lined out to short.

The Huskies added 9 runs in the 5th, scoring 6 with two outs, to go up by 10. Big hits in the inning were a 2 run double by Weeks and a 2 run single Satzinger. The Huskies were hoping that the night would end there with the 10 run rule but Centennial came right back with 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th off reliever Strombeck. Zack Miller came on to end the Cougar rally.

Centennial added 1 run in the bottom of the 6th and the Huskies responded with 2 more in the top of the 7th putting the lead at 6 but the bottom of the 7th had Cougars fans cheering and Huskies fans nervous. Nate Stong came on and got Piette to ground to short and things were looking good but two singles, a walk and home run cut the lead to 2. Nick Weeks came on and faced two batters, hitting one and giving up a single to left. Coach Gawreluk then handed the ball to Brent Stong.

Diggins singled off Stong to load the bases. Stong responded by striking out Dewitt. Piette followed with a good at bat, fouling off several pitches, before drawing a walk to cut the lead to one. Stong finally got Kallevig to pop out to short to end the game, preserve the victory for the Huskies, and move the Huskies winning streak to 5 games. Whew!