SUGAR LAND, Texas – HBU sophomore righthander
Daniel Endsley delivered a clutch performance by going 8.1 innings as the Huskies held off top-seeded McNeese in an elimination game Friday afternoon at Constellation Field.
Endsley (3-2) threw 131 pitches, allowing four runs, three earned, on 10 hits with two strikeouts and three walks. Sophomore righthander
Zach Carter recorded the final two outs for his second save of the season.
Junior second baseman
Jack Fitzgerald went 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI and scored twice for the Huskies (28-24). Junior first baseman
Jake Pulcheon went 2-for-4 and drove in a pair, while senior centerfielder
Zane Otten went 2-for-4 with an RBI and scored. Senior designated hitter
Christian Thames went 2-for-3 and scored, while junior shortstop
Tyler Depreta-Johnson homered.
"I thought Dan did an outstanding job," HBU head coach
Jared Moon said. "We needed him to go a long way to be able to use Carter in the second game. He did a great job, struggled in the first inning but settled in and didn't let it get to him. I think we did a great job defensively behind him, with Depreta-Johnson making some great plays and then he goes deep. Anything can happen in a tournament. I'm proud of the guys, they were locked in the whole time, stayed in it the whole time and Dan got us to an extra game."
Bryan King (3-4) took the loss for McNeese, giving up five runs, four earned, on eight hits with four strikeouts in 4.0 innings. Grant Anderson threw 3.0 shutout innings, allowing one hit, while Trent Fontenot gave up a hit in one inning of work.
Ricky Ramirez went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and scored twice for the Cowboys (37-20), who won the league's regular-season title. Matt Gallier went 2-for-5 with an RBI, Mitchell Rogers went 2-for-4 and Robbie Podorsky.
The Cowboys jumped out to an early lead, with Podorsky leading off with an infield single and scoring on an RBI single by Ramirez. Joe Provenzano added an RBI single to put McNeese ahead, 2-0.
Depreta-Johnson put the Huskies on the board with a solo shot to left, his second home run of the season.
Thames singled with one out in the fourth, then Fitzgerald smacked an RBI double to right to tie the game. Otten followed with an RBI single to center to put the Huskies ahead, 3-2.
HBU loaded the bases in the fifth and Pulcheon delivered an two-run single to extend the lead to 5-2.
McNeese answered back in the fifth when Ramirez hit a two-out double to center, then scored on Gallier's RBI single to cut HBU's advantage to one. The Cowboys scored in the eighth when Provenzano walked, went all the way to third on a failed pickoff attempt, then came home on a sacrifice fly by Shane Selman.
Dustin Duhon singled with one out in the ninth off Endsley. Carter came in and gave up a single to Ramirez, but Gallier grounded into a double play to end the game.
The Huskies face fifth-seeded Central Arkansas in a first-round rematch tonight at 7 p.m.
