HOUSTON — HCU took a 1-0 lead to the bottom of the seventh inning, but Nicholls rallied to send the game to extra innings and then walked off the Huskies in the eighth, winning 2-1 in the series finale at Swanner Field at Geo Surfaces Park on Saturday afternoon. The Colonels won in their final at-bat for the second straight game in the series to cap a three-game sweep.
The Huskies struck first in the first as
Avery Drake reached on an error, stole second and then came home on
Haylie Savage's single up the middle.
That score would hold until the seventh, when Melise Gossen continued her big weekend with a solo homer on the first pitch of the inning to knot things at one.
In the eighth, the Colonels got a leadoff single from Sydni Stevens, who was then gave way to pinch-runner Reagan Heflin. A sacrifice bunt pushed Heflin to second, and was followed by Claire Sisco reaching on an error.
Both runners advanced a base on a fly-out to right by Erin Krause to bring up Alexa Poché, who promptly singled to left center to score Heflin with the game-winner.
Roni Grofman went six innings for the Huskies, giving up just three runs and the Gossen homer while striking out six.
Lyndie Swanson (9-8) was saddled with the loss with 1.2 innings of relief.
Savage went 2-4 with an RBI and Drake was 1-3 with a stolen base and a run.
Audrey McNeil (12-8) won for the second time in two days, going the distance and allowing six hits and just the one first inning run while fanning eight.
Poché was 2-3 with an RBI, while Gossen capped off a solid 5-11 weekend by going 1-3 with the game-tying homer for Nicholls (27-22, 13-11 SLC) which moves into third place in the Southland after the sweep.
FINAL NOTES AND WHAT'S UP NEXT:
The regular season culminates next week with a four-game homestand at Husky Field. The Huskies (20-27 / 9-12 SLC) will welcome Tarleton State on Tuesday evening, followed by the final SLC series of the year against conference leader McNeese on Friday and Saturday.
Tarleton is currenlty 25-24 on the season as they entered a three-game Saturday/Sunday series at UT-Arlington. They will be making their first ever trip to Husky Field. The Huskies hold a 2-0 lead in the all-time series, having swept a doubleheader from the Texans in Stephenville last season, winning 9-7 in the opener and taking the second game 6-3 in eight innings.
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