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HOUSTON – HBU dropped a heartbreaker in game one, 6-5, and lost by a score of 10-0 in the second game of a Southland Conference doubleheader against Abilene Christian Friday afternoon at Husky Field.
 
Game 1
 
HBU (7-15, 0-8 SLC) struck in the bottom half of the second with Libby Brown drawing a leadoff walk before advancing to second on a one-out single by Megan Hiers. Two batters later, with two outs, Heidi Jaquez stroked her third triple of the season down the right field line to plate both baserunners and put the Huskies ahead 2-0.
 
The score remained 2-0 in HBU's favor until the Abilene Christian (17-13, 7-1 SLC) half of the sixth. Alli Spivey led the inning off with a swinging bunt single, then advanced to second on a passed ball and on to third thanks to a sacrifice bunt. Brianna Barnhill drew a one-out walk before a Holly Neese grounder to short went through the legs of Brown and allowed two runs to score and tie the game.
 
In the bottom half of the sixth, a two-out rally started with Hiers reaching on an error followed by a walk to Amber Lotz. With two on and two out, Jaquez singled through the left side to score pinch runner Brooke Bushman and move Lotz up to third. Cecilia Bauer followed with a hard hit grounder past the third baseman to bring Lotz home and put HBU back ahead by two, 4-2.
 
The Wildcats had an answer in the top of the seventh as Kaleigh Singleton drew a leadoff walk followed by an Alyson Bishoff pinch-hit double. Taylor Brown then drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. That prompted a pitching change for the Huskies with Stephanie Buenrostro coming on in relief of starter Emily Mueller. The first batter Buenrostro faced popped up to short for the first out of the inning. Peyton Hedrick singled for the Wildcats to bring one run home and was followed by Barnhill, who singled home two more runs and gave Abilene Christian runners on first and second. Both runners advance on a wild pitch, setting the table for a sacrifice fly by Neese to bring the score to 6-4 in the Wildcats' favor.
 
The Huskies loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with one out thanks to three walks. Kay Schroeder hit a deep foul ball near the left field line that gave Nicole Shedd enough time to score from third for a sacrifice fly with the baserunners advancing to second and third. With two in scoring position, Hiers flied out to center to end the game.
 
Jaquez was 2-for-3 in the game with three RBI and a walk while Shedd finished 2-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and her first triple of the season.
 
Mueller took the loss for the Huskies, allowing five runs, four earned, on four hits and six walks with two strikeouts. The senior falls to 3-10 on the year. Sidney Holman picked up the win in relief for ACU, moving to 11-3 while starting pitcher Hannah Null earned the save, coming back in to pitch in relief after throwing the first two innings of the game.
 
Game 2
 
In the second game, HBU threatened in the bottom of the first with Jaquez leading off with a single to left and moving up to second on a sacrifice bunt. Shedd singled through the left side with two outs to put runners on first and third but the inning ended on a strikeout, stranding two.
 
The Wildcats got on the board in the third thanks to a two-out rally that included a walk, a single and two doubles off HBU starter Shae Bibby. Two innings later, ACU pushed a single run across with three singles, including an RBI single through the right side off the bat of Braegan Hamilton that made it 4-0 through four and a half innings.
 
ACU opened the sixth with a bunt single from Spivey who advanced to second on a throwing error and then stole third. A Brown single up the middle brought Spivey home and was followed by a Hedrick home run to center with a stiff wind blowing in. It was her 10^th home run of the season and made it 7-0. The Wildcats offense stayed hot in the inning, totaling six runs on seven hits and a pair of Husky errors for the 10-0 final score.
 
The Huskies finished game two with just three hits, all singles, off the bats of Jaquez, Bauer and Shedd. Bibby suffered the loss for HBU with her record moving to 1-2 on the season.
 
HBU and Abilene Christian will close out their three-game Southland Conference series on Saturday, March 25, afternoon with first pitched scheduled for 12:00 p.m.