HOUSTON – HBU rallied for a 4-2 victory in game one, but Northwestern State snapped the Huskies' seven-game league winning streak with a 9-3 win in game two, for a split in the Southland Conference doubleheader Friday afternoon at Husky Field.
In the first game, senior catcher
Blake Thomas drove in two, while junior leftfielder
Spencer Halloran doubled and scored. Junior first baseban
Jake Pulcheon singled and drove in a run, while senior third baseman
Austin Zillweger also had an RBI for the Huskies (21-17, 13-7 SLC).
Sophomore righthander
JT Newton (5-0) picked up the win out of the bullpen, holding the Demons (16-26, 6-14) scoreless on three hits with a pair of strikeouts and a pair of walks over the final two innings. Senior righthander
Addison Russ took a no-decision, allowing two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks in seven innings.
David Fry went 3-for-4 with a double, walk and scored a run for NSU, while Cade Jones and Regan Kaufman each doubled and drove in a run.
Nathan Jones took a no-decision, allowing two runs on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks in seven innings, and Tim Winders (1-4) took the loss, giving up two runs on two hits with two walks in one inning.
The Demons got off to a hot start with doubles in the first inning by Fry, Cade Jones and Kaufman to take a 2-0 lead, but Russ would shut them down over the next six.
Junior shortstop
Tyler Depreta-Johnson drew a four-pitch walk with one out in the seventh for HBU, then Zillweger popped out for the second out. Junior designated hitter
Matt Heck ripped double to left, then Thomas blopped a single to rightcenter that scored both runners to tie the game, 2-2.
In the eighth, senior righthfielder
Brandon Brintz walked, then stole second, and Halloran was intentionally walked. Pulcheon delivered an RBI single to center to give the Huskies their first lead and Zillweger added a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-2.
In the second game, Halloran went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and drove in a run for the Huskies, while senior centerfielder
Zane Otten went 2-for-4 with a stolen base and scored a run. Otten has stolen a base in eight-straight Southland contests. Brintz walked, drove in a run and scored for HBU.
Senior lefthander
Christian Thames (6-2) took the loss, allowing eight runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and three walks in three innings. Senior lefthander
Ivan Smith, senior righthander
JT Jakubik and redshirt freshman
Evan McDonald combined to hold NSU to an unearned run on three hits over the final six innings.
Cade Jones went 4-for-5, hitting for the cycle, driving in three runs and scoring three times for the Demons. Matthew Alford homered and drove in three, while Kwan Adkins went 2-for-5 and Caleb Ricca went 2-for-3 and scored. Fry singled, drove in a run and scored twice for NSU.
Evan Tidwell (4-5) went eight innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks to earn the win.
Alford blasted a three-run home run to put the Demons on the board in the top of the first and HBU answered with an RBI double by Halloran in the bottom half.
Fry had an RBI single in the second, followed by an RBI triple by Cade Jones, who scored on a wild pitch. Jones then hit a two-run home run to rightcenter in the fourth and Lenni Kunert walked and later scored to put the Demons ahead, 9-1.
Brintz drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, then scored on Halloran's double in the eighth to cap the scoring.
The series concludes with the first pitch Saturday at noon. The video and audio broadcasts with
Russ Reneau begin at 11:45 a.m. with the pregame show and are available on HBUHuskies.com.
