Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. – Houston Baptist left little in question as the Huskies erupted for seven first-inning runs en route to a 13-3 dismantling of Northern Colorado in the championship game of the Great West Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium. The Huskies captured their first NCAA Division I conference baseball title after finishing as the runner-up the last two seasons.
 
“The guys came together at the right time, winning 13 of our last 14 games,” head coach Jared Moon said. “We finally had the approach of expecting to win, and we put together our best four-game stretch of the entire season. Being in the championship game the last two years, the guys were focused and determined not to go out in the same fashion. Our goal all year was to win the final game of the Great West Conference, so I couldn't be prouder of this team.”
 
Senior leftfielder Luke Clements was named the tournament's most valuable player and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates sophomore pitcher Tyler Hoelscher, junior shortstop CJ Jarvis, sophomore third baseman Curtis Jones and senior centerfielder Jake Gonzalez.
 
“I can't begin to explain how much I love my teammates,” Clements said. “We went through so much together this season, and it's hard to believe that we finally ended up as Great West Conference champions! It's been a long and crazy ride here at HBU, but I wouldn't trade the memories I made with my teammates and coaches for anything in the world.”
 
Sophomore catcher Samm Wiggins went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs for HBU (34-24-1), while sophomore designated hitter Josh Martinez went 3-for-4 with a double, a pair of runs and an RBI, extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with a double, the school-record 62^nd of his career, with two runs and an RBI.
 
Jones went 2-for-5 with a double and a run, senior second baseman Josh Foust homered and drove in three, and junior first baseman Bradley Brown also went deep, going 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and a pair of runs. Clements tripled, walked twice, drove in a run and scored once, and Jarvis doubled and drove in two runs.
 
Freshman lefthander Matthew McCollough (3-2) earned the win for HBU, allowing three runs on seven hits, striking out four and walking two in six innings. Freshman righty Matt Harding pitched two innings of scoreless relief, while junior righthander Kobie Hajdik nailed down the title with a perfect ninth.
 
Nick Miller went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Colby Harrison also went 2-for-4 for Northern Colorado. Corey Fujimoto was 1-for-3 and scored twice for the Bears.
 
Chris Hammer (5-5) took the loss for the Bears, giving up seven runs on six hits in only 2/3 of an inning. Lucas Corrick, Matt Loutzenhiser and Elan Raeber each gave up two runs as they combined to pitch the final 7.1 innings.
 
The first six Huskies reached safely, as they batted around and exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the first inning. Clements drew a leadoff walk, then HBU strung together five-straight singles by Jones, junior rightfielder Jordan McCoy, Gonzalez, Brown and Wiggins, the last of which brought home a pair to make it 4-0 before the Bears recorded an out. Martinez and Foust added RBI groundouts, then Clements capped the scoring by ripping an RBI triple off the wall in center.
 
The Bears got on the board in the second as Fujimoto walked, advanced to third on a single by Derek Baum and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dylan Banach. The Bears added a run in the third when Jensen Park reached on an infield single, then scored on Miller's double to leftcenter to make the score 7-2.
 
Martinez drew a walk in the third, then Foust blasted a two-run home run to leftcenter, his team-leading seventh of the season, to put the Huskies up, 9-2.
 
Northern Colorado loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh, but could only manage one run on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly by Ben Packard to trim the deficit to 9-3.
 
Wiggins and Martinez led off the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back singles, then Jarvis smashed a two-run double into the rightfield corner to extend HBU's lead to 11-3.
 
In the eighth, Gonzalez smoked a ground ball down the leftfield line for a double in his final at-bat as a Husky. Brown followed with his second home run of the season, both coming in the tournament, to put the Huskies ahead, 13-3.
 
Hadjik came in to work the ninth, striking out Banach to lead off the frame, fielding a comebacker by Tyler Yamamoto for the second out, and covering the bag on a grounder to first by Ryan Yamane to end the game and set off the Huskies' celebration on the field.
 
The Huskies won 13 of their last 14 games on the season, including a season-ending, season-best seven-game winning streak. HBU claimed the final Great West title before the league dissolves, and will move into the Southland Conference next season.