ARLINGTON, Texas – Southeastern Louisiana broke open the game with a six-run seventh inning behind a strong outing from righthander Jake Johnson in a 10-4 non-conference victory over Southland Conference foe HBU Saturday afternoon in the UTA Hilton Invitational at Clay Gould Ballpark.
Senior rightfielder
Thomas Clay reached safely four times for the Huskies (4-2), going 2-for-3 with a walk, a hit by pitch and scored twice. Senior third baseman
Curtis Jones also went 2-for-3, walked twice, drove in a run and scored once. Senior catcher
Samm Wiggins doubled and drove in a run.
Ryan Byers went 2-for-5, drove in three runs, scored once and stole a base for the Lions (5-2). Daniel Midyett went 2-for-3 and scored twice, Carson Crites went 2-for-4, drove in two runs, scored twice and stole a pair of bases. Nico Cuccia went 1-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and scored a run and Julian Service went 2-for-4.
Johnson (2-0) earned the victory, allowing an unearned run on three hits, struck out two and walked three in seven innings. Kade Granier tossed the final two innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on four hits.
Senior lefthander
Brandon Hammerly (1-1) took the loss for HBU, giving up four runs, two earned, on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks in four innings. Junior
Andrew Alvarez shut the Lions out for two innings, but gave up six runs on six hits, in his next third of an inning. Junior
Brody Toal allowed one hit over the final 1.2 innings.
HBU took an early lead as Clay led off the first with a walk and scored on a groundout by Jones.
SELA answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning on a two-out RBI single by Crites, followed by a two-run single by Byers. The Lions added a run in the fourth when Brooks Morse got caught in a rundown, allowing Cuccia to steal home.
It was still 4-1 heading into the seventh, but SELA got RBI singles by Crites, Byers and Webb Bobo, then Cuccia blasted a three-run homer to left to put the Lions up, 10-1.
The Huskies scored a pair in the eighth on an RBI double by Wiggins and an RBI groundout by senior centerfielder
Zach Nehrir, then scored one in the ninth on a passed ball, before leading the bases loaded to end the game.
HBU returns to action tonight when they conclude the tournament against host UT Arlington at 6:30. The broadcast with
Russ Reneau can be heard on HBUHuskies.com, beginning at 6:15 with the pregame show.
