HCU Huskies (18-20, 7-5 SLC) vs. Southeastern Louisiana (35-8, 10-2 SLC)
Fresh off a three-game series sweep of Texas A&M-Commerce, HCU looks to continue its momentum in a weekend clash with second-place Southeastern Louisiana at Husky Field.
The three wins over Commerce pushed HCU (18-20 / 7-5 SLC) into fourth place at the midway point of the Southland Conference slate. The Huskies have won four in a row.
The Blue and Orange defeated UTSA last Tuesday 19-8 to start the winning streak, as four Huskies combined for five homers. That included two by
Haylie Savage, who also contributed a career-best and HCU single-game record-tying eight RBI in the win.
After a week off for Easter, the bats would stay hot to start the series with TAMUC, as the Huskies slugged the Lions 17-3 in the opener.
Hadlee Tomczak and
Kaicey Hagler each hit two-run homers and
AB Garcia had four hits to lead the onslaught.
Lyndie Swanson hooked up in a pitcher's duel in the doubleheader nightcap, and the Huskies would make her a winner in the 9th, walking the Lions off for a 2-1 victory when Hagler scored from third on a throwing error to the plate after
Ronni Grofman's single to center.
The sweep was made complete on Wednesday, as Grofman was solid in the circle in her first start since March 10, tossing a complete game for her fourth victory of the season.
Avery Drake posted two career firsts in the game, as she collected four hits and drove in three runs to lead HCU's 12-hit offense. Garcia and Savage both went 2-4, and
Jasie Roberts went 1-3 with two RBI.
The Huskies now welcome another pride of Lions this weekend to cap off the six-game homestand, as Southeastern Louisiana invades Husky Field for a three-game series.
Southeastern comes into the weekend series on a 10-game winning streak after taking three at UIW last weekend. The Lions beat the Cardinals 12-8 and 10-7 in the Friday double-dip, then rallied for a 3-2 win in the series finale.
The Lions are currently second in the Southland standings at 10-2, just one game back of McNeese.
SLU's offensive attack is headlined by Bailey Krolczyk, a junior catcher from Corpus Christi who was a first-team All-Southland performer in 2022. The reigning Southland Hitter of the Week currently is batting .402 with nine homers and forty RBI, and leads the Southland in slugging percentage, OPS, home runs, doubles and RBI.
Lexi Johnson is right behind her at .333/8/38, while Maria Detillier hits .328 and has scored a team-best 36 runs.
Cam Goodman is batting .327 and is 27/33 in stolen bases, ranking 13th in the NCAA in total swipes and 25th in bags per game. The Lions as a team are fourth in the nation with 112 stolen bases in 43 games.
Eight pitchers have seen action for the Lions, with six having notched double-figure appearances. KK Ladner leads the way in the circle with a 10-1 overall mark, 1.86 ERA and 117 K's in 90.1 innings. MC Comeaux is 8-2 with a 1.96 ERA and Cera Blanchard holds a 13-4 record, 2.53 ERA and 57 K's in 77.1 innings.
SLU holds a 21-9 lead in the all-time series. The two teams met five times last season, with the Lions ending HCU's historic Southland Conference Tournament run in the semi-finals.
The two teams will face off in a 4 pm / 6 pm double-dip on Friday night, followed by the series finale on Saturday at noon.
Live stats will be available for all three games, with the Friday twin-bill being shown on ESPN+.
Game program for this weekend can be found on the bar above or by clicking
HERE.
