HOUSTON – HCU jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning but two four-run innings by the visiting Vaqueros proved too much for HCU to overcome as the Huskies fell, 10-7, in their Southland Conference series opener on Friday evening at Husky Field.
HCU (11-10, 4-3 SLC) scored a pair of runs in the bottom half of the first on a two-out RBI single from
Jack Walker with another scoring on a throwing error by UTRGV (11-11, 6-4 SLC) third baseman Easton Moomau. The Vaqueros got on the board in the top of the second with two runs on two hits and an HCU error with one of those hits an RBI triple by Diego Villescas.
Nico DeFazio led off the bottom of the second for HCU with a double to right center, moving up to third on a wild pitch and then scoring on a
Jeremy Rader groundout to put the Huskies back ahead, 3-2. UTRGV opened the third with back-to-back singles before reigning SLC Player of the Year Armani Raygoza drove a 3-2 pitch over the wall to right to swing the pendulum back the Vaqueros' way. Julius Ramirez then made it back-to-back homers with a solo shot to left center, making it a 6-3 game.
In the fifth,
Rhett Hendricks knocked in a run with a single through the right side with one out and then
Jack Walker brought home another run with a sacrifice fly to pull HCU within one, 6-5. At this point, reliever
Brock Lambert was cruising after entering the game in the third with one out. The senior retired 10 consecutive batters with nine strikeouts until Villescas drove a solo home run over the wall to left center in the top of the sixth. He then allowed a walk and a single before being lifted for
Louis Castano. Thomas Williams then hit the second pitch he saw from Castano over the fence to right for a three-run shot and a 10-5 UTRGV lead.
Walker led off the bottom of the eighth with a 415-foot solo blast, his fourth of the year, to right to get one back and pull HCU to within four, 10-6. Rader then opened the bottom of the ninth with a single but the next two batters were retired, leaving the Huskies with just one out left.
Luke Bard reached on an infield single before Walker loaded the bases with a single through the left side.
Preston Curtis followed with an infield single of his own to score Rader and leave the bases loaded for
Levi Castilleja but the HCU catcher struck out swinging to end the game.
Walker finished the night 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI and one run scored, raising his batting average for the season to .333. Rader went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in one, while DeFazio also had a multi-hit outing, going 2-for-4 and scoring once.
The Huskies used eight different pitchers with Lambert the only one to throw more than one inning.
Trent Barnes took the loss, falling to 0-1 on the year.
HCU and UTRGV will play game number two of their three-game series on Saturday, Mar. 21, at Husky Field with a 2:00 p.m. start.
