Box Score

HOUSTON – Houston Baptist sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs in the first inning in support of a solid outing on the mound from freshman lefthander Matthew McCollough as the Huskies downed crosstown rival Texas Southern, 9-3, Tuesday afternoon at Husky Field.
 
McCollough (1-1) allowed one run on eight hits and struck out five without a walk in seven innings for the Huskies (9-12-1).
 
Sophomore catcher Samm Wiggins went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple, three RBIs and two runs, while junior first baseman Bradley Brown was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Senior centerfielder Jake Gonzalez went 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI, and junior shortstop CJ Jarvis was 2-for-5 with a triple, two runs and an RBI. Senior leftfielder Luke Clements went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run, while junior rightfielder Jordan McCoy singled and walked twice and has reached safely in all 22 games.
 
Denzel Pipkin (0-3) took the loss for TSU (12-14), giving up seven runs on nine hits and walking two in two innings. Five other pitchers combined to hold the Huskies to two runs on six hits over six innings.
 
Ellis Stephney went 2-for-3 with a triple, an RBI and a runs scored for the Tigers. Tyler Flanagan and Jose Flores also drove in runs for TSU.
 
Jarvis and Clements led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles, then McCoy walked to load the bases with no outs. After a wild pitch move the runners up and put HBU on the board, Gonzalez hit a pop-up to second, but Demario Thibodeaux lost the ball in the sun, plating another run and putting runners on the corners. Wiggins followed with a two-run triple to left, then scored on an infield single by Brown to put the Huskies up, 5-0.
 
With no one on base and two outs in the bottom of the second, Gonzalez reached on a bunt single and stole second. Wiggins delivered an RBI single and went to second on the throw home. After sophomore third baseman Curtis Jones reached on an infield single, Brown singled up the middle to make the score 7-0.
 
Junior second baseman Garrett Tully led off the fifth with a single, then scored on Jarvis' triple into the rightfield corner. Jarvis came home on a Clements sacrifice fly to give HBU a 9-0 lead.
 
TSU scored in the sixth when Chris Deleon reached on an infield single, then came home on Stephny's triple. The Tigers added a pair of unearned runs in the ninth as Flanagan had a sacrifice fly and Flores added an RBI infield single.
 
The Huskies return to action when they travel to face future Southland Conference rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Corpus Christi.