HOUSTON – A day after opening the series with an 11-inning win across town, the HCU baseball team started Saturday off with a 6-2 victory in the first game of a doubleheader at Husky Field before falling the second game, 7-4.
The Huskies (12-5) took control early in game one with Robert Oropeza getting HCU on the board with a solo home run down the right field line in the bottom of the second with two outs. Trevor Roper then started the HCU half of the third with a leadoff single and three batters later a Jack Walker single through the right side gave the Huskies runners on the corners with two outs. Parker Edwards then added to the lead, lifting the first pitch he saw over the right field fence for a three-run blast and a 4-0 lead through three.
Rice (3-16) answered in the top half of the fourth, with a Tobias Motley single through the right side scoring Blaine Brown from third to trim the HCU lead to just three, 4-1. Oropeza led off the fourth with a double to right, advancing to third on a bunt single from Tevis Payne. Roper then plated Oropeza with a sacrifice fly down the right field line with Payne advancing to second. Kenneth Dutka singled through the left side of the infield to score Payne and bring the score to 6-1.
The Owls second, and last, run of the game after a pair of walks to the first two hitters of the inning. A double play later left a runner on first with two down. Landon West kept things alive with a single that moved the runner to third and an infield single by Motley brought Treyton Rank across the plate.
Joshua Caravalho earned his fifth win in as many starts, moving to 5-0 on the mound with six innings of work. The senior allowed two earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
Kyler Mentzel pitched the seventh, needing just seven pitches to finish off the game and secure the win
In game two,
Rice took control early with a five-run burst in the top of the second. The Owls got base hits from their first five batters in the inning with Trey Duffield, the fifth of those hitters, driving a two-run home run out to right to close out the scoring and putting HCU in a 5-0 hole. Rice then pushed two more runs across in the third for a 7-0 lead.
The Huskies got on the board in the fourth with consecutive singles off the bats of Walker and Edwards to lead things off. Katcher Halligan then reached on a bunt single to load the bases with nobody out. Rhett Hendricks hit a ground ball to third and the throw to first on the play sailed wide, allowing both Walker and Edwards to score. Jeremy Rader then drove in Halligan with a groundout to short to give the Huskies three runs in the inning. Oropeza kept things going, however, singling through the right side to bring Hendricks home and make it a 7-4 game through four innings. Over the final two innings, HCU stranded four baserunners in scoring position.
Jett Feltman was tagged with the loss, allowing five earned runs on six hits with one inning pitched.
Oropeza finished the day 3-for-5 with a home run and a double, scoring twice and driving in two runs. Edwards went 2-for-7, finishing with three RBI and two runs scored. He now has six home runs on the season.
HCU will close out its final non-conference series when they face Rice in the finale on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. back across town at Reckling Park.
