STEPHENVILLE, Texas – HCU started its three-game series against the Tarleton State Texans with a 7-6 win as starter
David Lopez gave the Huskies five scoreless innings and
Tyree Jackson hit his fourth home run of the season.
HCU (9-8) threatened in the second, loading the bases with one out but Tarleton (11-6) reliever Matthew McCullough got out of the jam without allowing a run.
Rhett Hendricks then opened the fourth with a single followed by a walk issued to
Jack Walker. Two batters later,
Luke Bard singled up the middle to score Hendricks and put runners on the corners.
Nico DeFazio followed with a single of his own up the middle, bringing Walker across the plate. Following another Texans pitching change, Jackson got a hold of a 2-2 breaking ball and deposited it over the left field fence to give the Huskies a 5-0 lead. Lopez then retired the side in order in the bottom half of the inning, striking out two.
The Texans got on the board in the sixth when Slade McCloud singled in a run with one out off reliever
Louis Castano. Carson Lorch then brought another run home on a fielder's choice to close the gap to 5-2. HCU had an answer in the top half of the seventh, however, with consecutive walks putting runners on with nobody out. Reliever Jackson Elizondo got the next to hitters out but Walker came up big with a two-out single up the middle to score both
Jeremy Rader and
Anthony Avalos to push the Huskies' lead back to five, 7-2.
In the bottom of the inning, Gage McCloud led things off with a solo home run to get one back for Tarleton. Things tightened up in the eighth when Lorch sent a 1-1 offering over the wall to left for a three-run home run, making it a one-run ballgame.
Ben Norton got the final out in the eighth and sat the Texans down in order in the ninth to earn the save.
Lopez was excellent in his fifth start as a Husky, allowing just one hit in five innings while striking out six and walking two to improve to 4-1 on the year. The senior lowered his season ERA to 3.75. Norton, meanwhile, secured his first save of the year and his 10
th as a Husky.
Bard, DeFazio and Walker all had two hits for the Huskies on a night when extra-base hits were hard to come by. Jackson's home run was the team's lone hit that wasn't a single as the redshirt junior's three-run blast was his team-leading fourth of the year. He continues to lead the team in RBI on the year with 18.
The Huskies and Texans are back at it on Saturday, Mar. 14, afternoon at the Tarleton State Baseball Complex with a 3:00 p.m. start.
