HOUSTON – No. 6 HCU moved within one win of earning the 2025 Southland Conference Baseball Championship after winning an 8-3 ballgame against No. 8 New Orleans on Thursday evening in front of a sold-out crowd at Husky Field.
HCU (31-23) loaded the bases in the bottom of the first thanks to a one-out infield single by
Tevis Payne follow by a walk to
Jack Walker. Payne and Walker executed a double steal.
Rhett Hendricks was then hit by a pitch with a 2-2 count to load 'em up, but New Orleans (28-25) starter Zach Longshore struck out the next two to get out of the jam.
In the second,
Matthew Leiterman led things off with a single up the middle for the Huskies. Three pitches later,
Jeremy Rader dropped down a sacrifice bunt to the third baseman with Leiterman taking advantage of an open third base and an errant throw by UNO first baseman Bryce Calloway trying to hit the shortstop in stride toward third went high to allow Leiterman to race home and put HCU ahead 1-0.
The Huskies struck again in the bottom of the third with Payne drawing a leadoff walk to get things started. Walker grounded out to third, moving Payne over to second, with Payne then taking third on a wild pitch with two outs.
Luke Bard lofted a 2-2 offering into shallow centerfield that just fell in despite a diving effort by UNO's Alexander Saunier, bringing Payne home and putting the Huskies ahead, 2-0.
Leiterman led off the fourth with a double to deep center followed by a bunt single from Rader to put runners on the corners. Rader then stole second and a groundout off the bat of
Trevor Roper drove in Leiterman, extending that HCU lead to three. Rader moved up to third on a wild pitch and two batters later, Payne drew his second walk of the game to again put two on for the Huskies. Walker ambushed the first pitch he saw as the next batter, singling up the middle and HCU took a 4-0 lead. Payne stole third and scored on a double steal with Walker moving up to third on a throwing error. With a 5-0 lead, Hendricks blasted a two-run shot over the wall to left and HCU headed into the fifth with a 7-0 lead while the Privateers had yet to register a hit in the game.
UNO got its first hit in the top of the sixth with a single off the bat of Collin Loupe. A walk with two outs gave the Privateers a pair of baserunners but Edwards induced a pop-out to keep the visitors off the board. The Privateers put another runner in scoring position in the seventh, thanks to a triple by Jake D'Altrui, but Edwards again got out of the inning unscathed on a line-out to short.
Edwards ceded the ball to reliever
Nick Ferazzi in the eighth and the Privateers found their stroke against the senior. The righty struck out the first hitter he saw but a pair of singles up the middle put two on with one out. Another strikeout followed but Tristan Moore drove the first pitch he saw over the left-center fence to cut the HCU lead to just four, 7-3.
The Huskies put a bit more space between themselves and the Privateers in the bottom half after a pair of walks with one out set up Payne for a single through the left side to bring Roper around to score from second.
Ferazzi then struck out the side in order in the ninth to put the game away and secure the 8-3 win.
Edwards moved to 3-4 on the year with the win, allowing just two hits with two strikeouts and two walks. Ferazzi struck out six batters in his two innings of relief.
At the plate, Payne reached base in four of his five plate appearances. The senior went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and two walks, scoring two runs and driving in one. Hendricks finished 1-for-3 with his sixth home run of the season. Leiterman also had a multi-hit game, finishing 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
The Huskies' win moves them to the cusp of earning a place in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015.
HCU and UNO meet again on Friday, May 23, evening at 6:00 p.m. at Husky Field.
