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08 - Keely Castillo (SLU)
Juan DeLeon

SB: HCU heads down coast for return to conference action against TAMUCC

Huskies take on rival Islanders in third SLC series of the season


 
Southland Conference Series 3 – HCU (10-15 / 4-2 SLC) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (7-19 / 1-5 SLC)
  • Chapman Field – Corpus Christi, Texas      
              🗒️ GAME NOTES 
  • Friday – March 21, 2025 (DH at 12 / 2 pm)
            📈 LIVE STATS  
            📺 ESPN+ (Gm 1)
            📺 ESPN+ (Gm 2)
  • Saturday – March 22, 2025 (12 pm)
            📈 LIVE STATS  
            📺 ESPN+
  ​​​​​​
Houston Christian University returns to conference action as it travels down the coast for a three-game series with rival Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. The two rivals will square off at Chapman Field starting with a noon doubleheader on Friday to be followed by the series finale on Saturday, also at noon.
 
The Huskies are coming off a mid-week loss to University of Texas-Arlington on Tuesday night that pushed their record to 10-15 overall on the season. The Mavericks put five runs on the board in the first inning and never looked back in claiming the 10-2 victory that kicked off a stretch for HCU where they will play seven of their next eight away from home.

AB Garcia moved her hitting streak to 11 games, tying her personal best by going 2-3 with a run and a stolen base. Haylie Savage hit a two-run homer for the Huskies, the 20th blast of her career, making her just the ninth player in school history to hit that plateau.
 
In its most recent Southland series against defending champion Southeastern Louisiana, HCU salvaged the series finale on Saturday after the Lions had swept the Friday twin-bill to move to 4-2 in conference play.
 
HCU fell in both games on Friday, falling 6-4 and 13-4 in the first home games since the opening weekend of the campaign. HCU took a 4-2 lead in the opener on a two-run double by Haylie Savage in the second inning, but the Lions retook the lead on a Maria Detillier 3-run homer in the fifth and added an insurance run in the sixth. In game two, the high-powered SLU offense racked up 11 hits and a seven-run outburst in the fourth frame broke open a close game. Maddy Bailey and Karlie Barba each had a pair of RBI in the loss.
 
In the Saturday finale, Cara Pitman held the potent Lions attack in check, tossing her second complete game of the series to run her record to 4-2 on the season. A two-run homer by Barba in the first put the Huskies ahead, and an RBI double by Chloe Foster put HCU ahead to stay in the fifth. Hanna York added an RBI single and Bailey added another insurance run in the sixth on a sac fly. Barba was 2-4 with two RBI and two runs scored and Foster added two hits as well for the Huskies, who posted their eighth game with double-digit hits.
 
HCU's offense is led by table-setter AB Garcia, who is sixth in the NCAA in batting average and 12th in the nation in hits. She leads the Huskies in batting average, hits, runs scored, doubles, triples, total bases and stolen bases, and ranks first in the Southland in batting average, on-base percentage, OPS and hits while ranking third in runs scored and slugging percentage.
 
The junior centerfielder from Cypress, Texas stole her sixth base of the season in the series opener against SLU, giving her 45 for her career to take sole possession of second place all-time at HCU. She now sits at seven on the season and 46 for her career after her swipe on Tuesday evening at UTA. She has 12 multi-hit games and is on her second 11-game hitting streak of the campaign.
 
Haylie Savage continues to attach herself to the career leaderboards. She has a team-best 27 RBI on the year, second in the SLC. She has moved into sixth place all-time with 116 as one of just 10 players in school history to hit the century mark. The senior third baseman from Angleton, Texas now is one of just nine players in school history to have 20 dingers over their career after her bomb at UTA on Tuesday, her second of the season. She is currently batting .392 and ranks eighth in the league in batting average and seventh in slugging and OPS.
 
The three-time All-SLC selection has seven multi-hit games and ten multi-RBI games, which leads the club. She is now ninth in career hits, fifth in doubles and closing in on the top 10 in games played, at-bats, walks and runs scored. Defensively at the hot corner, Savage ranks ninth in the NCAA in assists per game and 23rd in total assists
 
Maddy Bailey and Ella Herrewig are batting .360 and .340 respectively. Bailey is third on the team in RBI despite missing eight games while Herrewig is second on the club in stolen bases with five. Chloe Foster hits at a .271 clip with seven RBI while Karlie Barba has gone 8-16 over the first two conference series with her first homer and six RBI to raise her average to .264 on the season. Hanna York is second on the team in RBI with 13.
 
The young pitching staff continues to grow. Cara Pitman tossed two complete games in the series against Southeastern over the weekend and is now tied for the club lead in victories with fellow freshman Leah Hammack with four apiece. Hammack leads the club in innings pitched and strikeouts. Pitman paces the club in complete games and has the teams lone shutout and save.
 
HCU and TAMUCC have met 51 times over the years with the Islanders holding a 29-22 edge in the all-time series. After dropping two of three at home in the regular season series, the Huskies defeated the Islanders 7-2 in the Southland Tournament elimination opener, erupting for seven runs over their final two at-bats to erase a 2-0 deficit.
 
Kathleen Rodriguez is in her fourth season at the helm on the island, and her club is currently 7-19 overall and 1-5 in conference play after being swept at East Texas A&M last weekend.
 
TAMUCC is paced offensively by senior utility player Crystal Davila, batting .265 with three homers, 10 runs and eight RBI. Fellow senior utility player Paolina Baez also has three homer and leads the club with 17 RBI.
 
Sophomore southpaw Kendra Winfrey and junior righty Malia Williams have each won three games for the Islanders.
 
Following the third conference series of the season, HCU will come home to face cross-town foe Texas Southern University next Tuesday evening with first pitch slated for 5 pm at Husky Field.
 
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