HBU 7, UT Arlington 6

Illinois 8, HBU 3

ARLINGTON, Texas – Houston Baptist turned back a UT Arlington comeback to slip by the Mavericks, 7-6, the Huskies' fourth one-run victory of the season, in the second game of the Hilton Invitational Friday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark. The Huskies dropped the opener to Illinois, 8-3.
 
Against UTA, senior leftfielder Luke Clements went 3-for-5, drove in a run and scored for the Huskies (5-4-1). Sophomore third baseman Curtis Jones went 2-for-4 with a double and drove in a pair, while junior first baseman Mike Chamberlain went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run. Senior centerfielder Jake Gonzalez was 2-for-3, walked twice and scored a run.
 
Junior righthander Ryan Lower (2-1) earned the win for HBU, allowing five runs, three earned, on 11 hits in 6.1 innings. Gonzalez notched his fourth save of the season, giving up a run on three hits and striking out a pair in two innings of work. Sophomore Chad Valcoviak got two important outs, pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.
 
Matt Shortall went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run, three RBIs and a run for UTA (5-3). Ryan Walker went 3-for-5 with an RBI and scored two runs, while Brandon Lawrence, Daniel Garcia and Travis Sibley each had two hits for the Mavericks.
 
Andy Scott (1-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on two hits and walking two without recording an out in the first. Zach Thompson gave up three runs on five hits in three innings of relief.
 
HBU senior second baseman Josh Foust led off the game with a walk, Clements followed with a single, then junior rightfielder Jordan McCoy doubled to bring home the game's first run. After Gonzalez walked to load the bases, sophomore designated hitter Samm Wiggins grounded into a double play, allowing Clements to score and McCoy to advance to third. Chamberlain produced a two-out RBI single to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead.
 
Junior catcher Jordan Hebert drew a leadoff walk in the second, went to second on a passed ball, then scored on a single by Clements to put HBU ahead, 4-0. UTA answered in the bottom of the inning as Shortall led off with a home run.
 
Gonzalez singled to lead off the third for the Huskies, then Wiggins walked and Chamberlain sacrificed the runners ahead. Jones ripped a double to plate both runners and give HBU a five-run lead. The Mavericks scored another single run in the bottom of the inning as Sibley led off with a double and scored on a groundout.
 
HBU tacked on another run in the fifth as Chamberlain led off with a double, went to third on a passed ball and scored on junior shortstop CJ Jarvis' sacrifice fly to put the Huskies up, 7-2.
 
UTA cut into the HBU lead in the sixth, getting RBI singles from Shorthall and Lawrence to make the score 7-4. The Mavericks threatened again in the seventh, but despite loading the bases with one out, were only able to score a single run in the frame on Justin Copeland's RBI single as the Huskies' lead shrank to 7-5.
 
With Gonzalez working his second inning in relief in the bottom of the ninth, Walker led off with a single, Copeland walked and Shortall doubled to cut the Huskies' lead to 7-6. With the tying run on third and the winning run on second with no outs, McLemore grounded out to first, Lawrence struck out and Vinyard grounded back to Gonzalez to end the game.
 
In the first game, HBU sophomore righthander Tyler Hoelscher's season-opening scoreless streak came to an end at 16 innings as the Huskies fell to Illinois.
 
Junior designated hitter Bradley Brown and McCoy each went 2-for-4, with Brown recording the Huskies' only extra-base hit with a double. Clements added a single and two RBIs.
 
Hoelscher (2-1) took the loss, allowing eight runs, six earned, on 10 hits in 6.1 innings, while freshman Matt Harding was solid in relief, holding the Illini scoreless on two hits over the final 2.2 innings.
 
Thomas Lindauer went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and two runs, while Michael Hurwitz went 2-for-5, drove in a pair and scored once for Illinois. Jordan Parr went 2-for-4 with a double and scored, and Jason Goldstein singled and scored twice.
 
Keven Duchene (2-0) came within a strike of a complete-game shutout, but ran out of gas in the ninth. He allowed, three runs, all unearned, on eight hits, struck out three and walked five in 8.2 innings.
 
Lindauer led off the second with a double and scored on Brandon Hohl's sacrifice fly, then Hurwitz added a two-run single to put the Illini ahead, 3-0. They added two more in the sixth as Parr doubled and scored on a Lindauer RBI single and he came around to score on Reid Roper's double. Illinois scored three more in the seventh to take and 8-0 lead.
 
In the ninth, HBU loaded the bases when Chamberlain and junior second baseman Garrett Tully reached with back-to-back singles and Jarvis reached on an error. Sophomore Josh Martinez drew a pinch-hit, two-out walk to end the shutout and chase Duchene from the game. Andrew Mamlic gave up a two-run single to Clements, before McCoy popped up to end the game.
 
The Huskies will face Illinois again Saturday at 11 a.m., before concluding the tournament against UT Arlington Sunday at 3 p.m.