SAN ANTONIO – After Incarnate Word tied the game in the bottom of the eighth, HBU answered with a pair in the ninth for a 3-1 victory to sweep the Southland Conference series Sunday afternoon at Sullivan Field.
Senior centerfielder
Zane Otten went 2-for-4, drove in a run, scored one and stole a base for the Huskies (20-15, 12-6 SLC), who won their sixth-straight game. Senior rightfielder
Brandon Brintz also went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, while junior leftfielder
Spencer Halloran went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Senior third baseman
Austin Zillweger went 3-for-4 with a double.
HBU sophomore righthander
Daniel Endsley took a no-decision, shutting out UIW (16-24, 5-13) on six hits with six strikeouts and a walk in 6.1 innings. Sophomore righthander
JT Newton (4-0) picked up the win after blowing the save, allowing a run on two hits with two walks in 1.2 innings. Sophomore righty
Zach Carter notched his first save of the season, allowing a hit and a walk in the ninth.
Eddy Gonzalez went 2-for-5 and scored the lone run for the Cardinals, while Lee Thomas went 2-for-4 with a double and drove in the run. Sam Gutierrez went 2-for-3 and drew a walk.
UIW starter Tyler Lesley also took a no-decision, shutting out the Huskies on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks in 6.0 innings. Cody Allen (3-1) took the loss, giving up two runs on three hits in 1.1 innings.
The Cardinals loaded the bases in the second, but Bryce Shepherd's ground ball forced Gutierrez out at second to end the inning. Gutierrez led off the fifth with a single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Otten's diving catch on Gonzalez's line drive to center ended the inning.
Senior catcher
Blake Thomas led off the seventh with a single, then stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. After sophomore second baseman
Kendrick Holmes flied out, Otten laid down an RBI bunt single down the third-base line to give HBU a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Lee Thomas led off with a double and UIW loaded the bases with one out. Newton took over for Endsley and on his first pitch, got Mark Whitehead to ground into a double play.
Junior shortstop
Tyler Depreta-Johnson singled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and Zillweger followed with a single, but junior designated hitter
Matt Heck lined into a double play to end the threat.
UIW loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth, then Sean Arnold lined out. Thomas delivered an RBI single to tie the game, but Garrett Terrell popped out and Gutierrez grounded out as the game went to the ninth tied, 1-1.
After a pair of groundouts to start the ninth, Otten came through with a single, stole second, then scored on Brintz's RBI single to left. After Brintz stole second, Halloran ripped an RBI double to right to extend the Huskies' lead to 3-1.
Shepherd singled off Carter to lead off the bottom of the ninth, the sixth time UIW got hit to leadoff an inning in the game. Mark Whitehead flied out to left, then Gonzalez popped up to third for the second out. David Anaya walked to put the tying run aboard, but Kyler Genenbacher grounded back to Carter, who flipped it to junior first baseman
Jake Pulcheon for the final out.
The Huskies return to action when they head back to San Antonio to face UTSA in a non-conference matchup Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Roadrunner Field. The Legacy Sports Network audio broadcast with
Russ Reneau begins at 5:45 with the pregame show and is available on HBUHuskies.com.
