HOUSTON – The HCU baseball team trailed by seven with just nine outs remaining but fought back to earn a walk-off 11-10 win over UIW at Husky Field on Sunday afternoon to win the series against the Cardinals on the opening weekend of conference play.
The first two innings went quickly with the game scoreless heading into the third. UIW (7-5, 1-2 SLC) got the scoring started in the top of the third with Trent Rucker driving in a run with a double. The Huskies (6-6, 2-1 SLC) answered in the bottom half of the inning, however.
Tyree Jackson opened the inning by reaching on an error, stealing second and moving up to third on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs,
Katcher Halligan pulled a single through the right side to score Jackson and even things up, 1-1.
In the fourth, the Cardinals broke things open by scoring five runs on six hits while taking advantage of two HCU errors. One of those hits was a Colin Cymbalista home run that just snuck over the wall and just inside the left field foul pole to lead off the inning.
Trailing 7-1, HCU got one back in the bottom of the fourth with a hit batter, a single and an RBI groundout by
Nico DeFazio. UIW added to its lead two innings later when Cole Tabor tripled down the right field line to score one followed by a sacrifice fly to push the Cardinals' lead to 9-2.
The Huskies put a dent in their deficit in the seventh after heading into the inning trailing by seven. DeFazio led off the inning with a double to left center followed by a Jackson single that put runners on the corners. Jackson then stole second, his second stolen base of the day, before
Jeremy Rader scored DeFazio and beat out an infield single.
Anthony Avalos then loaded the bases with a single to right. The next two hitters struck out, put the HCU rally in jeopardy, but a wild pitch allowed the runners to advance with Avalos crossing the plate.
Jack Walker then pulled a 1-0 pitch to right for a two-run single.
Zach Munton kept things going with a single of his own, moving Walker over to third.
Preston Curtis closed out the scoring in the inning with a single to bring Walker home and cut it down to a 9-7 UIW lead.
A leadoff walk in the top of the eighth turned into one more run for the Cardinals to put the Huskies in a 10-7 hole heading into the bottom of the ninth. After a leadoff groundout in the ninth inning, Walker drove a 401-foot solo home run over the wall to right center to pull HCU back within two. Munton then drew a walk before Curtis singled through the left side, prompting a pitching change. Pinch hitter
Levi Castilleja was hit by a pitch to load the bases before a wild pitch allowed a run to score and two runners to move into scoring position. Jackson then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate another and tie the game, 10-10. With pinch runner
Graham Laxton on second, Rader drove a 1-0 pitch off the left field wall to score Laxton and secure the walk-off win.
Walker went 3-for-4 at the plate, scoring three runs and driving in three while hitting his second home run in as many days. Curtis also finished the day with three hits while Munton and Rader each had two.
Halligan went 1-for-4 to extend his current hitting streak to eight games while Avalos and Walker kept their own streaks going at seven games.
Reliever
Ben Norton earned the win for the Huskies, pitching the eighth and ninth with one earned run allowed on three hits while striking out two and walking one. He improves to 2-0 on the season.
The Huskies will head to Austin, Texas to face the Texas Longhorns this Tuesday, Mar. 3, at 6:30 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field before traveling to Lake Charles, La. to face McNeese in a three-game SLC series next weekend.
