SUGAR LAND, Texas – HBU couldn't come through with a clutch base hit against Central Arkansas' Brandon Hagerla, who went the distance, as the Bears shut out the Huskies, 3-0, to advance to the championship game of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament Saturday afternoon at Constellation Field.
Senior rightfielder
Brandon Brintz, junior leftfielder
Spencer Halloran, senior designated hitter
Christian Thames and senior third baseman
Austin Zillweger each had a pair of hits for the Huskies (29-25).
Junior righthander
Cody Marshall (1-2) shut out UCA (34-25) for four innings, but allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits and struck out two in 5.2 innings. Sophomore righthander
JT Newton gave up one run on three hits and walked four in three innings, and senior lefthander
Ivan Smith finished his career with a punch out for the final out in the top of the ninth.
"Marshall did a good job," HBU head coach
Jared Moon said. "We had the mistake, with the error there and then a passed ball to set them up for the sac fly. The difference in the ballgame was, they hit with runners on and we didn't. That was the big difference. I thought Hagerla did a great job. He kept us off balance, working the outside of the plate and changing speeds and we just kept rolling over to the shortstop. But, a tip of the hat to them. They capitalized when they had the opportunities and we didn't."
Hagerla (9-3) went the distance, giving up nine hits, but no runs with no strikeouts and a walk on 107 pitches.
Rigo Aguilar went 2-for-4 and scored a run for the Bears, while William Hancock went 2-for-5 with a double and scored. Eddie Sanchez went 2-for-2 with a walk, with the RBIs coming from Keaton Presley, Justin McCarty and Brooks Balisterri.
The Huskies' best scoring chance came in the bottom of the fourth when Brintz and Halloran led off with back-to-back singles. Junior first baseman
Jake Pulcheon failed to get down a sacrifice bunt, then junior shortstop
Tyler Depreta-Johnson ripped a line drive heading for leftcenter, but Balisterri leaped up to make the grab, then ran to second for an inning-ending double play.
Hancock then led off the fifth with a double to leftcenter and scored on a sacrifice fly for the game's first run. Aguilar hit a high chopper off the plate for an infield single, took second when the throw to first went up the first base line, then went to third on a passed ball. Balisterri lifted a sacrifice fly to right, with Aguilar sliding around the throw from Brintz for a 2-0 lead.
The Bears added a run in the seventh as Hunter Strong singled, Aguilar was hit by a pitch and McCarty delivered an RBI single to right.
"I'm proud of our guys and how they fought from the losers bracket to get to this point, one game away from playing for another championship," Moon said. "I couldn't be more proud of what they've done, coming in as the four seed. They worked their butts off all year and I think it showed in the previous three games and even today. I'm proud of how hard they worked to get to this point."
Thames, Halloran and sophomore righthander
Zach Carter were voted to the All-Tournament Team.
