HOUSTON – HBU jumped out to an 8-2 lead, but was held scoreless over the final five innings as McNeese came back for an 11-8 victory in a non-conference battle of Southland foes Tuesday afternoon at Husky Field.
Senior rightfielder
Matt Heck went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and scored twice, while senior centerfielder
Spencer Halloran went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two RBIs and scored a run for the Huskies (21-24). Junior leftfielder
Jake Scott went 2-for-5 with a triple, drove in a run and scored twice and senior shortstop
Tyler Depreta-Johnson was 1-for-3 with a double, and RBI and scored twice. Junior
Jonathan Ducoff pinch hit and doubled in his only at bat to extend his hitting streak to 12, the longest this season on the team.
Junior lefthander
Taylor Franzman started for HBU and had faced the minimum through three, but ended up allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in 3.2 innings. Senior righthander
Marshall Herron (1-3) took the loss, allowing two runs on two hits in one inning of work.
Brett Whelton went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and scored twice, while Carson Maxwell went 2-for-4 with a home run, drove in three and scored twice for the Cowboys (21-24). Jacob Stracner went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, drove in one and scored three times and Reid Bourque went 2-for-4, drove in a pair and scored two for McNeese.
Starter Peyton McLemoree allowed two runs on five hits and struck out three in two innings. Zach Rider (3-1) held HBU scoreless on two hits for two innings to earn the win and Cayne Ueckert pitched a scoreless ninth to notch his second save.
HBU scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, when Scott led off with a triple, followed by back-to-back doubles by Depreta-Johnson and Halloran. Depreta-Johnson and Halloran led off the third with back-to-back walks, with Depreta-Johnson scoring on a throwing error and Halloran coming home on junior first baseman
Grant Buck's RBI double down the rightfield line for a 4-0 lead.
McNeese got on the board with a pair in the fourth as Maxwell led off with a single and eventually scored on a balk and Dustin Duhon added an RBI single.
The Huskies answered with four in the bottom half, as Scott delivered an RBI single and Halloran ripped an RBI double to straight-away center. Heck followed with a two-run, opposite-field home run, tying for the league lead with his ninth of the season, to extend the lead to 8-2.
Stracner hit a solo home run to left in the fifth, then the Cowboys tied the game with five runs in the seventh. Maxwell hit a three-run home run and scored two more on wild pitches.
Bourque's two-run single in the eighth put McNeese ahead and the Cowboys added a run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Whelton.
The Huskies return to action when they host New Orleans in a three-game Southland Conference series Friday through Sunday at Husky Field. Friday's opener begins at 2 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. first pitch Saturday and a 2 p.m. start in Sunday's finale. The YouTube video broadcasts with
Russ Reneau begin with the pregame show 10 minutes prior to each first pitch and are available on HBUHuskies.com.
