BEAUMONT, Texas – HBU completed the suspended game from Friday, holding on for a 3-2 victory, then followed with a 4-3 win in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader. Lamar claimed the finale with a 5-0 win Sunday afternoon at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
In the first game of the doubleheader, senior centerfielder
Zach Nehrir was 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and a run, junior first baseman
Andrew Alvarez was 2-for-4 with an RBI and junior leftfielder
Brandon Morones was 2-for-4 for the Huskies (21-16, 12-6 SLC).
Senior righthander
Curtis Jones (4-4) earned the win, allowing three runs on seven hits, matching his career high with eight strikeouts and no walks in eight an one-third innings. Jones also doubled and scored a run. Senior
Josh Martinez returned to the field for the first time since suffering a strained oblique on March 3 and notched the save by getting the final two outs.
Jake Nash was 2-for-4 and scored a run, while CJ Moore doubled and drove in two runs for the Cardinals (17-21, 6-11).
Jayson McKinley (2-2) took the loss, giving up three runs on seven hits with a walk in five and two-thirds innings. Denny Fernandez gave up a run on five hits in three and one-third innings of relief.
Nehrir led off the game with an inside-the-park home run to the gap in leftcenter after Lamar leftfielder Kevin Santana could not make the catch and ran into the wall. Santana left the game, but was not seriously injured on the play.
Nash and Brendan Satran opened the second with back-to-back singles, then a sacrifice bunt by Kevin Markum moved them up. CJ Moore blooped a two-out, two run double to right to put Lamar ahead, 2-1.
HBU tied the game in the fourth when senior catcher
Samm Wiggins singled, then later scored on a two-out single by Alvarez. The Huskies scored again in the sixth when Jones led off with a double, went to third on a flyout by Wiggins, then scored on a bunt single by junior second baseman
Greg Espinosa to take a 3-2 lead.
The Huskies got a much-needed insurance run in the seventh, when senior rightfielder
Thomas Clay doubled down the leftfield line and Nehrir drove him in with a single up the middle.
The Cardinals led off with singles from van der Meer and Nash to open the ninth, then Jones struck out Satran. Markum singled to center to load the bases and chase Jones from the game. Mason Salazar lifted a sacrifice fly to center to cut HBU's lead to 4-3, but Martinez got Moore to fly out to center for the final out.
In the second game, five Cardinal pitchers combined to shut the Huskies out. HBU left 11 runners on base.
Nehrir extended his hitting streak to seven games for the Huskies, going 2-for-4 with a double, while junior shortstop
Louie Payetta was 2-for-5.
Five players had two hits for the Cardinals. Nash was 2-for-3 and scored twice, while van der Meer was also 2-for-3 and scored twice. Salazar and Satran, who doubled, went 2-for-4 with an RBI each. Reed Seeley doubled twice.
Kevin Leggett (1-1) picked up the win for Lamar, pitching two and one-third innings of relief. Starter Collin Chapman held HBU scoreless on three hits with a strikeout and two walks in four innings. Joe Farley, Will Hibbs and Derek Wade also combined to hold the Huskies without a run.
Senior righthander
Taylor Wright (6-4) took the loss for HBU, allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits in four innings. Senior
Chris Garza tossed two scoreless innings.
The game was scoreless until the fourth, when Lamar got leadoff singles from van der Meer and Nash. Markum moved them up on a sacrifice bunt, then Moore beat out an infield single but the throw skipped past first base and van der Meer scored the first run. Nash scored on a wild pitch, then Satran smacked an RBI single to put the Cardinals ahead, 3-0.
Lamar added two more in the fifth as van der Meer, who had walked, scored on an error. Salazar added an RBI single for the game's final tally.
The Huskies return to action when they travel across town to face Texas Southern Tuesday at 3 p.m. at MacGregor Park, before hosting a Southland Conference series against first-place Southeastern Louisiana Friday through Sunday at Husky Field.
