Photo GallerySUGAR LAND, Texas – HBU junior lefthander
Matthew McCollough hurled his fourth complete game of the season to lead the seventh-seeded Huskies to a 4-1 victory over second-seeded Northwestern State in the first round of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament Wednesday afternoon at Constellation Field.
McCollough (8-2) allowed one run on five hits, struck out six and walked one on 110 pitches, 81 of which were strikes.
"Everything was working for me, I just had a lot of energy at the beginning of the game, leaving the ball up and I couldn't hit the strike zone, but I settled in and the defense was behind me, then the hitting came through," McCollough said. "It was a great game. I had a lot more control as the game went on, and I had a lot more confidence."
Junior second baseman
Greg Espinosa went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while junior first baseman
Andrew Alvarez went 2-for-4 for the Huskies (25-25). Senior centerfielder
Zach Nehrir was 1-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run, and senior catcher
Samm Wiggins tripled and drove in a run.
"McCollough pitched outstanding and that's the reason we threw him in the first game, because he's pretty much done that all year for us," HBU head coach
Jared Moon said. "Offensively, I was a little worried, because we hadn't played in over a week, so it took us a while to get going. (Northwestern State's) third baseman made some great plays, but the two-out error he made, we were able to capitalize on with Espinosa coming up with the big hit."
Adam Oller (6-4) also went the distance for the Demons (30-22), allowing four runs, one earned, on seven hits with one strikeouts and no walks.
CJ Webster was 2-for-4, while Chase Daughdrill drove in Northwestern State's lone run.
The Demons jumped on the board first as Joel Atkinson drew a walk to leadoff the bottom of the first and went to second on a passed ball. After a sacrifice bunt by Cort Brinson, Daughdrill lifted a sacrifice fly to right to make the score 1-0.
Oller was perfect through four and two-thirds, until Alvarez and Espinosa came through with back-to-back singles with two outs in the fifth, but the Huskies were unable to score.
Senior rightfielder
Thomas Clay led off the sixth with a single up the middle, stole second, then went to third on a wild pitch. Nehrir grounded out to second to tie the game, 1-1.
Wiggins reached on an error to lead off the seventh, but was forced out at second, as junior designated hitter
Austin Saenz reached on a fielder's choice. Alvarez followed with a single, and senior
Clayton Vaughn pinch ran for Saenz. Espinosa ripped a double in the leftfield corner to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
In the eighth, Nehrir doubled down the leftfield line and went to third on a groundout by junior shortstop
Louie Payetta. Senior third baseman
Curtis Jones reached on an error with two outs, allowing Nehrir to scored, then Wiggins tripled down the rightfield line to put HBU up, 4-1.
In the bottom half of the inning, Miller Park led off with a pinch-hit single up the middle. Atkinson ripped a grounder up the middle, but Espinosa made a backhanded, sliding stop behind second base and flipped to Payetta for the force out. Brinson then grounded into a double play to end the inning.
HBU will face sixth-seeded Central Arkansas Thursday at 4 p.m. The Bears held off No. 3 Nicholls, 7-6, in the first game of the tournament.
