SUGAR LAND, Texas – After recording the save in HBU's victory earlier in the afternoon, sophomore righthander
Zach Carter got the starting nod in the evening, tossing 8.0 innings in a 6-2 win over Central Arkansas in the Southland Conference Tournament Friday at Constellation Field.
The Huskies and Bears will square off again Saturday at 1 p.m. for the right to play Sam Houston State in the championship game at 6 p.m.
Carter (7-3) allowed two runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and four walks, while throwing 123 pitches. Junior righthander
Tanner Luna gave up a walk, but recorded the final three outs to nail down the win.
Junior shortstop
Tyler Depreta-Johnson went 3-for-4 and scored twice for the Huskies (29-24), while senior designated hitter
Christian Thames went 2-for-4 with a home run, a pair of RBIs and also scored a pair of runs. Senior catcher
Blake Thomas doubled and drove in two, while senior centerfielder
Zane Otten doubled and drove in a run.
"First off, I thought Carter did a fantastic job," HBU head coach
Jared Moon said. "He was running his pitch count up there after throwing 40-some pitches the other day. He was a horse for us today. The hitters did their job early on. When they brought the lefty in we struggled a lot, but Carter was able to get himself out of jams and came up big for us."
Cody Davenport (4-4) took the loss for the Bears (32-25), giving up five runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and a walk in 3.2 innings. Will Brand gave UCA 5.1 strong innings out of the bullpen, retiring the first 10 he faced, before allowing a run on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk.
Justin McCarty went 2-for-4 with a double and scorerd for UCA, while Michael Haun went 1-for-2 with two walks and an RBI. Brooks Balisterri drove in the other run for the Bears, and Ty Tice delivered a pinch-hit double and scored.
The Huskies got on the board first as Depreta-Johnson led off the second with a single, then Thames blasted a two-run home run to left, his second of the season, for a 2-0 lead.
Depreta-Johnson then led off the fourth with a single up the middle, Thames followed with an infield single, then the pair pulled off a double steal. Thomas ripped a two-run double to left, then Otten blooped a two-out RBI double to right to extend HBU's lead to 5-0.
UCA finally struck in the seventh when Tice led off with a double and scored on Haun's RBI single to center. The Bears scored again in the eighth, as McCarty doubled then came home on Balisterri's RBI single to right to cut HBU's lead to 5-2.
After four shutout innings, Brand walked senior third baseman
Austin Zillweger to lead off the top of the ninth and Thomas laid down a sacrifice bunt. Junior second baseman
Jack Fitzgerald reached on an infield single to extend his hitting streak to five games, then senior rightfielder
Brandon Brintz beat out an infield single to make the score 6-2.
Luna walked Haun to lead off the bottom of the ninth, but Presley flied out to center, Jansen McCurdy struck out on three pitches, then Hunter Strong flied out to right for the final out.
The Huskies and Bears will meet for the third time in the tournament, after fifth-seeded UCA won the first-round game Wednesday and fourth-seeded HBU bounced back Friday. It will be the sixth meeting of the season between the two schools, who met five times in 2015, including twice in the conference tournament.
"We're one game away from being able to play for a championship again so we're in a good spot," Moon said. "Hopefully we can piece one together in the first game tomorrow and have it be all hands on deck for a championship game."
Third-seeded Sam Houston State defeated New Orleans, 7-1, as the Bearkats moved to 3-0 in the tournament and secured a spot in the championship game.
