HOUSTON – On a day with winds blowing 23 miles per hour out to dead center, the HBU baseball team staked itself a 5-0 lead through four innings using nothing but singles and ultimately took the Southland Conference series over visiting Nicholls with a 9-2 victory on Sunday afternoon at Husky Field.
Junior catcher
Kevin Ortiz went 3-for-4 at the plate, driving in three runs and scoring once, for his first three-hit game as a Husky. On the mound,
Matthew Charles made his first start of the season allowing two earned runs on four hits over 4.1 innings. Charles struck out three and walked two. Senior lefthander
Austin Spinney came on in relief to earn the win with 3.2 scoreless, hitless innings on the mound. He's now 2-3 on the season.
The Huskies (11-21, 5-4 SLC) got on the board in the third with
Braden Sanford,
Austin Roccaforte,
Kevin Ortiz and Brennan Bales all singling consecutively and scoring a pair for a 2-0 lead.
Logan Letney singled with one out in the fourth and two batters later, with two outs, Sanford and Roccaforte again hit back-to-back singles with Roccaforte's bringing home Letney. Ortiz then brought home Sanford with a single followed by a Bales single that scored Roccaforte for a 5-0 advantage.
A leadoff hit batter followed by a walk set up Nicholls (17-13, 5-4 SLC) for a two-run fifth inning and chased Charles from the game. In the bottom half of the fifth, HBU quickly regained its five-run lead after a leadoff single from
Caleb Munton and a two-run home run to left center off the bat of
Diego Davila two pitches later.
Spinney retired the Colonels in order in both the sixth and seventh innings while the Huskies tacked on runs in their half of the seventh and eighth.
In addition to Ortiz, Roccaforte, Bales, Munton, Letney and Sanford all enjoyed multi-hit games with Roccaforte and Sanford both scoring twice. Davila's home run was his second of the season.
HBU pitchers limited the Colonels to just four hits, three singles and a double. Xane Washington led Nicholls offensively, going 2-for-4 with a double. Nick Heckman took the loss on the mound, allowing five earned runs on nine hits over 3.2 innings.
HBU will remain at home for a Tuesday, Apr. 12, afternoon game against Prairie View A&M with a 3:00 p.m. start at Husky Field.
