WACO, Texas – The HCU baseball team went toe-to-toe with Baylor on Tuesday evening at Baylor Ballpark, falling 3-2 after a walk-off home run by the Bears in the bottom of the ninth.
In the third inning, HCU (17-9) got a one-out double to left center off the bat of Trevor Roper before Tevis Payne drew a walk with two outs. Jack Walker then reached on a single to load the bases but the threat ended on fielder's choice ground ball to third.
In the bottom of the fourth, Baylor (20-8) broke the scoreless deadlock after a pair of singles to start the inning with a one-out squeeze bunt scoring a runner from third. The next next three and a half innings moved swiftly with the hosts clinging to their one-run lead. The eighth inning saw Payne reach base with a one-out single followed by Walker ending up on first on a fielder's choice with Payne retired at second for the inning's second out. Parker Edwards kept the inning alive with an infield single with both he and Walker moving up an extra base on a throwing error, giving the Huskies two runners in scoring position. Katcher Halligan then scored Walker with an infield single to knot the score at 1-1.
Baylor responded in the bottom of the eighth, however, with the help of a pair of wild pitches and a two-out single off the bat of Jack Little. HCU fought back again, tying the game in the top of the ninth. Matthew Leiterman singled to lead off the inning with Luke Campbell coming in to pinch run. With two outs, Kenneth Dutka lifted a fly ball to left toward the foul line with the left fielder overrunning the ball and allowing it to fall to the ground while Campbell raced around the bases and slid in to home just ahead of the tag to even things at 2-2.
In the bottom of the ninth, however, Travis Sanders drove a 1-2 pitch to right center that just cleared the fence for a dramatic walk-off home run and the 3-2 final.
Leiterman finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate and was joined by Dutka and Roper as the Huskies with extra-base hits in the game. Five different pitchers combined to limit the Bears to just three runs on nine hits.
Parker Edwards,
Joshua Caravalho and
Louis Castano each threw one scoreless inning to start the game followed by
Jacob Cyr, who allowed one earned run in three innings of work.
Nick Ferazzi was saddled with the loss, falling to 1-1 on the season, while allowing two earned runs on four hits in two innings pitched.
Next Up, the Huskies will travel to Prairie View A&M for a 2 p.m. matchup on Wednesday, April 2. The teams have faced each other earlier this season, with HCU winning 7-2 on March 12 at Husky Field.
