NEW ORLEANS – HBU got on the board in the first, but New Orleans answered and Hezekiah Randolph's three-run home run in the fifth provided the cushion in the Privateers' 8-3 series-clinching victory Saturday afternoon at Maestri Field.
Senior centerfielder
Zane Otten, senior rightfielder
Brandon Brintz and senior third baseman
Austin Zillweger each singled and scored for the Huskies (22-20, 14-9 SLC). Junior first baseman
Jake Pulcheon recorded HBU's only RBI.
Senior lefthander
Christian Thames (6-3) allowed six runs on 11 hits with two strikeouts and a walk in 4.2 innings, while junior righthander
Weston Smart gave up a run on three hits in 2.1 innings of relief.
Dakota Dean went 3-for-4 with a double, and RBI and scored twice, while Randolph went 2-for-4 with a home run, his ninth of the season, for UNO (24-22-1, 12-11). Owen Magee went 2-for-5 with a double, drove in two and scored twice and Orynn Veillon went 3-for-4 and scored a run.
Bryan Warzek (7-2) held the Huskies to three runs, one earned, on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in 8.0 innings, while Reeves Martin tossed a perfect ninth.
Otten led off the game with an infield single, then Brintz walked. The duo pulled off a double steal then scored when Pulcheon reached on an error by UNO shortstop Aaron Palmer, who committed three errors in the game.
In the bottom of the first, Magee delivered a two-run double to tie the game, then scored on a single by Dean to give the Privateers a 3-2 lead. Randolph hit a three-run home run to left in the fifth to extend the lead to 6-2.
The series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m., with the Legacy Sports Network audio broadcast with
Russ Reneau beginning at 12:45 with the pregame show.
