HOUSTON – HBU rallied for six runs in the ninth inning, capped by junior third baseman Curtis Jones scoring from third on a passed ball to send the Huskies to a 9-8 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday afternoon at Husky Field and evening the Southland Conference series at a game apiece.
 
Jones went 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs scored, while senior leftfielder Jordan McCoy went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run for the Huskies (16-15, 6-8 SLC). Junior rightfielder Thomas Clay went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and a run. McCoy extended his hitting streak to nine games, while junior centerfielder Zach Nehrir ran his streak to eight with a single, an RBI and a run.
 
Jordan Lee went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs, while Brandon Tierney went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs for the Islanders (18-19, 8-6). Zack Gibson was 2-for-3 with a double and a pair of runs, while Tyler Ware was 2-for-5 with an RBI. Frankie Salas singled and drove in a pair for TAMU-CC.
 
Junior Chris Garza (1-1) picked up his first career victory at HBU by pitching a scoreless ninth. Senior starter Ryan Lower allowed six runs on 10 hits, striking out five and walking three in six-plus innings.
 
Kevin Landgrebe (2-3) took the loss for TAMU-CC, giving up three runs, two earned, on two hits and a walk in 2/3 of an inning. Islanders starter Trevor Belicek held the Huskies to three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and no walks in seven innings.
 
TAMU-CC entered the bottom of the ninth with an 8-3 lead when Nolan Holland came in as a reliever, but McCoy reached on an infield single, Nehrir drew a walk after a nine-pitch at-bat, and junior second baseman Clayton Vaughn was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Landgrebe then took over for Holland, then promptly gave up a two-run single to left to Clay, cutting the Huskies' deficit to 8-5. Senior shortstop CJ Jarvis flied out deep to left, allowing Vaughn and Clay to move into scoring position, then sophomore pinch-hitter Nathan Schwertner walked to reload the bases.
 
Jones pulled a fly ball down the leftfield line, and Lee made a diving attempt, but the ball skipped past him and all three runners scored right on the heels of each other to tie the game, 8-8. Senior first baseman Mike Chamberlain hit a chopper to Landgrebe which allowed Jones to go to third, then Landgrebe's first pitch to junior catcher Samm Wiggins was high, glanced off the mitt of Lukas Hermanson, and Jones slid in headfirst with the winning run.
 
TAMU-CC took the lead in the third when Gibson led off with a double down the rightfield line, moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Josh Garza, then scored on a single to right by Lee past the drawn-in infield. Lee was thrown out at third on a single by Tierney, but Tierney went to second on the throw, and scored on an RBI single by Salas.
 
The Islanders led 2-0 through six, but got to Lower again in the seventh. Gibson led off with a single to right, then Garza and Lee chopped singles over the head of Jones, who was drawn in anticipating bunts at third. Tierney slapped an RBI single to left, then Salas drew a bases-loaded walk to put TAMU-CC ahead, 4-0, and chase Lower from the game. Junior Brandon Hammerly got Cody Stephens to ground into a double play, which allowed another run to cross the plate, then Ware's RBI single made the score 6-0.
 
HBU finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh, as Jones and senior first baseman Bradley Brown delivered back-to-back, one-out singles. Sophomore Christian Cokinos pinch-ran for Brown at first, then Wiggins ripped an RBI single to left, Cokinos went all the way to third, which allowed Wiggins to take second on the throw. Cokinos scored on an RBI single by McCoy, then Nehrir lifted a sacrifice fly to left to cut the Islanders' lead to 6-3.
 
TAMU-CC got two of the runs back in the eighth on RBI singles by Tierney and Jacob Hubert, giving the Islanders an 8-3 advantage.
 
Clay led off the eighth with a single for the Huskies, and Jones and Chamberlain drew two-out walks to load the bases, but HBU left the bags full and still trailed 8-3 heading into the ninth.
 
The series concludes Sunday with first pitch set for 2 p.m.