HUNTSVILLE, Texas – For a second-straight day, HBU mounted a furious rally, only to come up short, as Sam Houston State claimed the Southland Conference series finale, 9-6, Sunday afternoon at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Huskies (23-28, 15-12 SLC) trailed 9-0 after five innings, but scored six runs over the final three innings, including three in the ninth, to make it interesting.
Senior outfielder
Spencer Halloran went 3-for-5 with a triple, a home run, three RBIs and scored a run, while senior shortstop
Tyler Depreta-Johnson went 2-for-4, drove in two runs and scored for HBU. Junior outfielder
Anthony Jones went 2-for-2 with a double and scored twice.
Junior righthander
Brady Batten (3-6) took the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and two walks in four innings. The Huskies used five more pitchers over the final four innings.
Andrew Fregia went 3-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and scored three times, while Eric Bohnert went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and scored a run for the Bearkats (35-17, 21-6). Ben Haefner went 2-for-4 with a double, drove in two and scored a run.
Hayden Wesneski (5-3) picked up the win, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks in 7.1 innings.
SHSU scored three runs in the first as Fregia and Clayton Harp had back-to-back triples and Haefner had an RBI single. The Bearkats tacked on a run in the third, when Fregia led off with a single and later scored on Boehnert's single.
The Bearkats scored five runs in the fifth, with Haefner adding an RBI double, Boehnert coming through with a two-run single. An RBI groundout by Ochoa and a throwing error allowing a run to score extended SHSU's lead to 9-0.
HBU finally broke through in the seventh, with Depreta-Johnson delivering an RBI single and the Huskies' taking advantage of a Bearkat miscue to make the score 9-2.
Halloran led off the eighth with a solo home run, his ninth of the season to tie for the league lead, to cut the deficit to 9-3.
Jones led off the ninth with a double into the leftfield corner and Depreta-Johnson followed with an RBI single. After junior outfielder
Jonathan Ducoff singled, Halloran ripped a two-run triple to straight-away center, trimming the Bearkats' lead to 9-6, but he was stranded at third.
The Huskies wrap up the regular season with a three-game Southland Conference series Thursday through Saturday at Husky Field. Thursday's opener and Friday's game each begin at 2 p.m., followed by the Senior Day finale Saturday at 1 p.m. 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.
