HOUSTON – HBU senior righthander
Ryan Lower dominated Abilene Christian, then the Huskies broke through with a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh for a 3-0 victory to even the Southland Conference series at a game apiece Saturday afternoon at Husky Field.
Lower (5-2), a product of Houston's Cypress Creek High School, hurled eight shutout innings, scattering four hits, striking out seven with one walk on 123 pitches. Sophomore
Dylan Zarosky completed the shutout, striking out one and walking one in the ninth, for his team-leading fourth save of the season.
Senior shortstop
CJ Jarvis, junior second baseman
Josh Martinez, and senior first baseman
Bradley Brown each went 2-for-3 for the Huskies (19-20, 8-12 SLC). Brown doubled, Jarvis drove in a run, and Martinez scored one. Junior rightfielder
Thomas Clay tripled, drove in a run, and scored. Senior leftfielder
Jordan McCoy's hitting streak came to an end at 16 games, but he drove in the first run of the game.
Brady Rodriguez (1-3) also had a strong outing for ACU, shutting out HBU for five innings, but allowed three runs on nine hits with three strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Nick Palacios retired all four Huskies he faced.
Seth Spivey, Brandon Grudzielanek, Emil Litterer, and Gunnar Buhner recorded the Wildcats hits, which were all singles.
HBU broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth, as Jarvis led off with a single to leftcenter. Junior third baseman
Curtis Jones reached on a fielder's choice as Jarvis was retired on force play at second, then junior designated hitter
Samm Wiggins ripped a single down the rightfield line to put runners on the corners. Jones scored when McCoy hit a chopper to second and beat the throw to first on what could have been an inning-ending double play to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
The Huskies added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh. Martinez led off with a single up the middle, then Clay blasted a line drive to deep rightcenter for an RBI triple. Jarvis followed with an RBI single to right to put HBU ahead, 3-0.
The series concludes Sunday with a 2 p.m. first pitch at Husky Field.
