SUGAR LAND, Texas – HBU pitchers issued 14 walks and Central Arkansas took advantage of its school record for free passes, including a seven-run third inning, as the fifth-seeded Bears downed the fourth-seeded Huskies, 15-4 in seven innings, in the first round of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament Wednesday night at Husky Field.
Senior rightfielder
Brandon Brintz went 3-for-4 with a double and scored a run for HBU (26-24). Junior leftfielder
Spencer Halloran, junior first baseman
Jake Pulcheon, senior third baseman
Austin Zillweger and junior second baseman
Jack Fitzgerald each drove in a run.
Senior righthander
Addison Russ (2-6) allowed eight runs on four hits with two strikeouts and seven walks in 2.2 innings, then three Huskies combined to finish out the final 4.1 innings.
"It's never good when your pitcher has a bad outing like that," head coach
Jared Moon said. "They put up 10 runs with two outs because we walked 14 guys, we didn't force them to swing the bat, we didn't do a lot from a pitching standpoint. Our hitters did okay with six hits and four runs off of Gray. With Russ matching up with him, that should have been enough to get us a win, but unfortunately Russ didn't have it tonight. So, we have to put that behind us and come out ready to play tomorrow."
Keaton Presley went 1-for-2 with a home run, walked three times and drove in five runs for UCA (32-24), while Brooks Balisterri went 3-for-4 and scored three times. Eddie Sanchez also went 3-for-4 with a double, drove in two runs and scored twice and Hunter Strong went 2-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and scored a run. Jansen McCurdy also drove in a pair.
Tyler Gray (6-6) picked up the win, allowing four runs, only one earned, on six hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 5.0 innings.
Russ issued a bases-loaded walk Rigo Aguilar in the first, then gave up a three-run home run to Presley in the second. McCurdy delivered a two-run single and Strong had a two-run double as part of the Bears' seven-run third inning.
The Huskies answered with three in the bottom of the third as senior centerfielder
Zane Otten was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, then Brintz followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Otten came home when Halloran hit a comebacker to the mound, but the throw for the force out at second went into centerfield. Pulcheon then came through with an RBI single and Zillweger added an RBI groundout.
UCA put the game away with three runs in the top of the seventh.
HBU faces No. 8 seed Lamar in an elimination game Thursday at noon. The Legacy Sports Network audio broadcast with
Russ Reneau begins at 11:45 a.m. with the pregame show and is available on HBUHuskies.com.
