[02/25/02] FERRIDAY, La. When Porters Chapel Academy and Huntington got together for their season-opener Monday night, the teams barely resembled the ones that played for the Academy-A South State title last season.

The outcome of the game was familiar, however.

Ryan Hoben struck out nine, and allowed only two hits and no earned runs in a complete game win as the Eagles cruised, 6-1.

PCA leadoff hitter Chase Towne had three of the Eagles’ eight stolen bases and also scored three runs, and T.J. Smith stole two bases and drove in three runs.

“Their only loss on this field was to us last year, and now we started them off with a loss here this year,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. “It takes a lot to beat them on their home field. This is a big win on the road for us in the first game of the year.”

Between them, Huntington and PCA lost 16 players from last year’s teams. Huntington’s inexperience showed more clearly though, especially early on.

The Hounds committed seven errors, leading to five unearned runs for PCA in the first three innings. Towne reached on an error to start the game and eventually scored on a groundout by Smith, and three errors in the fourth helped bring in four more runs and gave PCA a 5-0 lead.

Smith had a two-run single in the fourth to trigger the outburst, and PCA sent 10 men to the plate in the inning.

“We’ve got a lot of inexperience … That’s just going to catch up with us, and it certainly did tonight,” Huntington coach Michael McAnally said.

PCA’s defense, on the other hand, was stellar behind Hoben. He allowed baserunners in each of the first three innings, but PCA turned two double plays and Hoben helped his own cause with a quick throw to the plate on a second-inning dribbler to cut down another runner.

“Every time they hit it, the defense was right there,” Hoben said. “You’ve just got to have confidence they’ll get it when they hit it.”

PCA made it 6-0 in the fourth when Towne singled and scored on Josh Rush’s double off the right field wall, and Hoben settled down after his rough start.

After pitching out of a two-on, no-out jam in the third, Hoben retired 11 straight batters until he walked Brett Tosspon to start the seventh. Hoben collected seven of his strikeouts in the last four innings and didn’t allow a hit after the second inning.

A PCA error and a hit batter loaded the bases for Huntington in the seventh, and the Hounds got their only run on an RBI groundout by third baseman Trey Keith. Hoben bounced back, however, striking out the last two batters to end the game.

“I felt good,” Hoben said. “I knew they were going to hit it, but I had to throw strikes and let them hit it.”