SAN ANTONIO – HBU sophomore righthander
JT Newton hurled four shutout innings in relief to earn his sixth save of the season, as the Huskies downed Incarnate Word in the Southland Conference series opener Friday night at Sullivan Field.
Senior righthander
Addison Russ (2-3) picked up the win, allowing two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts and five walks in five-plus innings. Newton came in when Russ put the first two runners on in the sixth and allowed four hits with three strikeouts and no walks.
Senior rightfielder
Brandon Brintz went 2-for-4 with a walk, two RBIs and scored a run for the Huskies (18-15, 10-6 SLC). Junior first baseman
Jake Pulcheon went 2-for-5 with an RBI, while junior shortstop
Tyler Depreta-Johnson singled, walked twice, drove in a run and scored to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Senior centerfielder
Zane Otten singled, stole a base and scored.
Garrett Terrell went 4-for-4 with a triple and and RBI for UIW (16-22, 5-11), while Lee Thomas went 2-for-4 with a double and scored both Cardinal runs.
John Shull (3-6) took the loss, giving up four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 4.2 innings. Four relievers combined to hold HBU to an unearned run on four hits the rest of the way, with Cody Allen leading the way with 2.1 shutout innings.
Senior catcher
Blake Thomas led off the third with a single for the Huskies, but was forced out at second on junior second baseman
Jack Fitzgerald's failed sacrifice bunt attempt. Otten followed with a single to put runnners on the corners, then stole second. Brintz delivered a two-run single to center to put HBU ahead, 2-0.
Thomas singled for UIW in the fourth, then scored on Terrell's triple to rightcenter to cut HBU's lead to 2-1. Russ then struck out Sam Gutierrez and Bryce Shepherd to end the inning.
Brintzand junior leftfielder
Spencer Halloran drew back-to-back, two-out walks in the fifth, then Pulcheon came through with an RBI single up the middle. Depreta-Johnson followed with an RBI single to extend the Huskies' lead to 4-1.
Thomas doubled to rightcenter to lead off the sixth, then Terrell singled to put runners on the corners to chase Russ from the game. Gutierrez hit a tapper back to the mound and Newton got the force out at second, but Shepherd had an RBI single to left to make the score 4-2. Newton got Mark Whitehead to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Depreta-Johnson walked to lead off the eighth, then senior third baseman
Austin Zillweger ripped a double to straightaway center. Junior designated hitter
Matt Heck struck out, but reached on a passed ball that allowed Depreta-Johnson to score. Thomas and Fitzgerald struck out to strand Zillweger at third.
After giving up a leadoff single to Terrell in the eighth, Newton got another double play groundout and struck out Shepherd to end the inning. Newton set down the Cardinals in the ninth, the only time they went down 1-2-3 on the night to nail down the win.
The series continues Saturday at 3 p.m., followed by the finale Sunday at 1 p.m.
