CONWAY, Arkansas – HBU jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but Central Arkansas took advantage of free passes to come back and claim an 8-7, walk-off victory in the second game of the Southland Conference baseball series Friday night at Bear Stadium.
Senior second baseman
Greg Espinosa went 2-for-5 and scored twice, while senior shortstop
Louie Payetta went 2-for-4 and scored for the Huskies (10-13, 2-3 SLC). Senior designated hitter
Austin Saenz went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run and junior leftfielder
Zane Otten went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Junior catcher
Blake Thomas had a double and three RBIs and junior third baseman Austin Zilllweger singled and scored twice.
William Hancock went 3-for-4 and scored a run, and Ty Tice doubled and drove in a pair for the Bears (11-10, 5-3). Tyler Langley went 2-for-4, driving in the game-winning run, and scoring, while Michael Haun went 1-for-2 with an RBI, and two runs, including the game-winner. Derek Beier (3-0) earned the win, holding HBU to one run on four hits with three strikeouts in 6.1 innings of relief of Cody Davenport, who allowed six runs, four earned, on eight hits in 2.2 innings.
Senior righthander
Dylan Zarosky (1-2) took the loss for the Huskies, allowing an unearned run, three hits and three walks in 2.1 innings. Junior righthander
Julian Griego started and allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits with three walks in five innings.
The Huskies scored a pair of runs in the first inning when Espinosa led off with a single, Payetta laid down a sacrifice bunt and junior rightfielder
Brandon Brintz reached on an infield single. Espinosa scored on a throwing error by the pitcher and Brintz later scored on a throwing error by the second baseman to give HBU a 2-0 lead.
In the third, Espinosa and Payetta led off with back-to-back singles and advanced on a bunt by Brintz. Saenz delivered an RBI single, then Thomas ripped a two-run double down the rightfield line. Otten added an RBI single to extend the Huskies' lead to 6-0. UCA answered in the bottom of the inning, when Haun was hit by a pitch and Tice and Brandon Montalvo had back-to-back RBI doubles to make the score 6-2.
HBU scored in the fifth when Zillweger led off with a single, senior first baseman
Justin Monsour doubled and Thomas lifted a sacrifice fly to left. The Bears scored in the bottom of the inning when Langley led off with a single and later scored from third on an errant pickoff throw to first to trail 7-3.
Over the next two innings the Bears scored four runs without a hit, cashing in on six walks and three hit batsmen to tie the game, 7-7, on Haun's sacrifice fly in the seventh. Haun singled with one out in the ninth, then stole second and took third when the throw went into centerfield. Langley then single through the left side of a drawn-in infield to complete the Bears' comeback.
The series concludes Saturday at 1 p.m. and the Legacy Sports Network audio broadcast with
Russ Reneau begins at 12:45 with the pregame show on HBUHuskies.com and LSN.
