Box Score

Postgame Interview with Head Coach Jared Moon

GREELEY, Colo. – Houston Baptist junior centerfielder Jake Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run, four RBIs and picked up the save as the Huskies escaped with a 6-5 victory over Northern Colorado in the opener of the four-game Great West Conference series Friday at Jackson Field.
 
Junior second baseman Josh Foust also went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run, two RBIs for the Huskies (14-20, 6-3 GWC). Sophomore third baseman Tanner Kalina went 3-for-4 with a triple and scored a run, while senior rightfielder Kolby Arnst went 2-for-5 with a run. Senior leftfielder David Pfuntner singled and scored twice in his return to the lineup from an injury, while freshman shortstop Curtis Jones tripled.
 
Casey Coy did most of the damage for the Bears (14-20, 5-4), going 4-for-5 with a double, a triple and a pair of RBIs. Jensen Park went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, while Ryan Yamane went 2-for-4 and scored twice.
 
Senior righthander Dalton Schafer (4-5) earned the win for HBU, allowing four runs on 11 hits and striking out six in seven innings. Senior Michael Schulle gave up a hit and a struck out a batter as he worked the eighth and gave way to Gonzalez, who earned his third save of the season, despite giving up a run on one hit and walking two in the ninth. Jess Amedee (4-2) took the loss for Northern Colorado, allowing four runs on 10 hits in six innings. Josh Tinnon allowed a pair of runs on four hits in two innings for the Bears.
 
Northern Colorado got on the board in the bottom of the first, getting leadoff singles from Yamane and Coy to put runners on the corners with no outs. After Schafer struck out Hilker, Park beat out a potential double play grounder to put the Bears ahead, 1-0.
 
HBU put up four runs in the top of the third, as Kalina led off with a bunt single, then Foust followed with a two-run blast to left, the first of his Husky career. Pfuntner and Arnst had back-to-back singles to center, then Gonzalez brought them home with a double to deep center to give the Huskies a 4-1 lead.
 
The Bears answered in the bottom of the inning, as Coy led off with a double to right and scored on a single through the right side by Park to cut their deficit to 4-2.
 
Foust led off the seventh with a double off the centerfield field fence that hit the yellow piping on top of the fence and stayed in play, but he was retired on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by Pfuntner. Gonzalez picked him up by smashing a two-run, two-out home run to left center, his team-leading fourth of the year, to put HBU up, 6-2.
 
Harrison Lambert smacked a one-out, pinch single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh. Yamane singled to center to put runners on the corners with two outs, then Coy ripped a two-run triple to right to make the score, 6-4.
 
The Bears made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Gonzalez struck out Lambert, but walked pinch hitter Taylor Anderson and Yamane. Coy struck out for the second out, but Adam Hilker singled up the middle to make it a one-run game. Park grounded to short and Jones flipped to Foust to force out Hilker at second to end the game and give HBU head coach Jared Moon a win on his 41st birthday.
 
The series continues with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. CDT.