HAMMOND, La. – No. 6 HBU got to within a run with a pair in the seventh, but No. 3 New Orleans came back with three in the bottom half and three more in the eighth for a 10-3 win in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament Thursday afternoon at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
 
Senior pitcher/designated hitter Brennen Bales (0-2) went 3-for-5 with a home run and took the loss, allowing two runs on two hits with three strikeouts and a walk in 2.1 innings. Junior Will Ripoll went 3.2 innings in relief, giving up four runs, three earned, on four hits.
 
Junior catcher Kevin Ortiz also homered and junior third baseman Reed Chumley was 1-for-2 with a double for the Huskies (18-35).
 
Tyler LeBlanc (7-1) earned the win for UNO (29-21), allowing three runs on six hits with five strikeouts and three walks in seven innings.
 
Pearce Howard was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs, while Miguel Useche was 1-for-4 with a grand slam and five RBIs. Kasten Furr went 4-for-5 and scored three times and Amani Larry was 1-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs and scored three times.
 
Bales got the scoring started for the Huskies with a solo blast to left in the top of the third, but the Privateers answered with Useche's grand slam in the bottom half.
 
Sophomore Sebastian Trinidad led off the seventh with a pinch-hit single, stole second and scored on Botkin's RBI single to left. After junior centerfielder Austin Roccaforte grounded into a double play, Ortiz blasted an opposite-field home run to right to cut UNO's lead to 4-3.
 
Howard's two-run triple and Useche's sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning put the Privateers ahead, 7-3. Larry added a three-run homer in the eighth to extend the advantage to 10-3.
 
The Huskies will face No. 2 Southeastern in an elimination game Friday at 1 p.m. The host Lions lost to No. 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 6-5.