H
OUSTON – HCU baseball picked up a pair of wins on Saturday in a doubleheader against Stephen F. Austin at Husky Field after Friday's game was postponed due to rain. The Huskies secured a 6-4 win in Game one before completing a comeback victory in Game 2, winning 12-8 thanks to 10 unanswered runs after falling behind 8-2.
During the first game, Stephen F. Austin (9-18, 2-9 SLC) took an early lead in the third inning when Josh Ibe drove in a run with an RBI single. HCU (16-8, 9-2 SLC) quickly responded in the bottom of the inning with Kenneth Dutka singling through the right side to bring home Jeremy Rader and tie the game at 1-1. The Lumberjacks reclaimed the lead in the fourth, capitalizing on a wild pitch and RBI singles from Julian Swift and Austin Cadroy to go up 4-1.
The Huskies answered back in the fifth with Trevor Roper and Dutka reaching on back-to-back singles to open the inning. Rhett Hendricks then launched an 0-2 offering over the left field wall for a three-run home run to level the score at 4-4. HCU took its first lead in the eighth when Roper smacked an RBI single through the right side to score pinch runner Graham Laxton from second with one out, moving up to third following an error. Two batters later, with two outs, Hendricks brought Roper home for an insurance run with a single to left.
Louis Castano (3-0) was dominant in relief, tossing five shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out five and not issuing a walk. HCU finished with 15 hits, led by Jack Walker, who went 4-for-5.
Game two again saw SFA take an early lead with the Lumberjacks scoring in the second, third, and fourth innings with a two-run homer from Ibe helping them build a 5-0 advantage. Hendricks got the Huskies going in the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff double before advancing to third on a groundout. Tevis Payne then drew a walk to put runners on the corners before Rader drove a sacrifice fly to right to plate Hendricks. Payne then stole second with two outs before scampering home on a Roper single to center and pull HCU within three, 5-2.
SFA came right back, however, extending its lead to 8-2 in the fifth with three runs on three hits and an HCU error.The Huskies began to steadily chip away, however. Katcher Halligan tripled to deep left center to begin the HCU half of the fifth, scoring on Walker's RBI groundout in the next at bat, making it 8-3. The Huskies then added three runs in the sixth with a two-out rally that started with a walk and a hit batter. With two on, Dutka stroked a single to center to bring home Rader and move Roper to second. Following a pitching change, Halligan doubled to left center to bring home both Roper and Dutka to pull the Huskies within two, 8-6.
Hendricks drew a one-out walk in the seventh followed by a
Matthew Leiterman single to put two on. Payne then laced a single up the middle, scoring Hendricks and making it a one-run game, 8-7, heading into the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, it was Dutka who crushed a leadoff triple to deep right center to get things started. Following a strikeout, Walker lined a single to left to tie the game, easily scoring Dutka from third.
Parker Edwards then singled through the right side to give HCU runners on first and third with one out. Hendricks popped up a bunt to the pitcher for the second out of the inning. Edwards stole second and pinch hitter
Luke Bard drew a walk to load the bases. Payne then came up with a huge single through the left side to score two more and put HCU ahead, 10-8. The Huskies weren't done, however, as Rader drove in pinch runner
Walker Bazile with a single to right center and a base knock up the middle from Roper brought Payne around to score and gave HCU a 12-8 advantage heading to the ninth.
Reliever Nick Ferazzi retired the first batter of the ninth, inducing a flyout to left before Ben Norton came on to get a groundout and a strikeout to end the game.
Ferazzi (1-0) earned the victory for HCU, throwing 1.1 scoreless innings in relief. HCU racked up 15 hits, with six different players having a multi-hit game. Roper has now hit safely in each of the last four games with three multi-hit games during that span, going 8-for-14 at the plate. In the two games, Roper went 5-for-7 while Walker was 6-for-9.
HCU has now won each of its first four Southland Conference series of the season, the lone team in the league to accomplish the feat.
The Huskies will wrap up the series against Stephen F. Austin on Sunday, March 30, at 2 p.m. at Husky Field.
