HOUSTON – The HCU offense went off on Tuesday evening at Husky Field as the Huskies earned a 24-4 win in seven innings over the visiting Texas Southern Tigers for the program's most runs in a game since 2008.
Starting pitcher
Jett Feltman and the Huskies (13-16) found themselves in a tight spot from the jump with the Tigers (12-12) putting runners on first and third on consecutive singles to star the game. Feltman then induced a 6-4-3 double play that brought home a run followed by another ground out to end the half inning.
HCU came right back in the bottom half of the first with some offense of its own.
Jeremy Rader led off by reaching on an error, moving up to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Nico DeFazio.
Katcher Halligan then drew a walk before
Luke Bard drove a first-pitch double into the left center gap to score both baserunners and give the Huskies a 2-1 lead. Three batters later, following a walk and a fly out,
Preston Curtis hit a double of his own to left center to score Bard and push the lead to 3-1.
TSU answered in the second after a hit batter to lead things off with a single and a double down the right field line to follow, tying the game at 3-3. The Huskies regained the advantage in the next half inning as
Tyree Jackson led off with a lined single to left followed by a walk issued to Rader. A double steal then moved both runners into scoring position. Halligan drove home one run with a sacrifice fly to deep center before Bard hit his second double in as many innings down the right field line to bring Rader across and make it a 5-3 ballgame through two.
The Huskies kept the scoring going in the third on a 360-foot solo home run from
Graham Laxton, his second round-tripper of the season, to bump the HCU lead to three, 6-3. The visitors got one back in the fifth with Zachari Pace hitting a leadoff triple to deep center and then coming home on an RBI groundout by Christopher Chavez.
HCU added four more in the bottom half of the fifth in an inning that included five base hits and a walk, pushing the lead to six.
In the bottom of the sixth, HCU poured on 14 runs with each and every one scoring with two outs in the inning. The Huskies pounded out nine hits in the inning, including a Halligan grand slam, while drawing seven walks with the Tigers committing one error. All but one of the runs in the inning was earned.
HCU's 24 runs were the most by the program since a 2008 game against TSU at MacGregor Park that the Huskies won, 26-4. The program record for runs in a game is 35, set in 2004 in a win over Wiley College.
Bard led the offensive charge for the Huskies, going 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles while driving in four runs and scoring three. Halligan, meanwhile, ended the night with five RBI and two runs scored while going 2-for-3 with two walks. His grand slam was his fourth home run of the season. Laxton scored four times, finishing 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI while hitting his second homer of the year.
Feltman went five innings to earn the win, improving to 2-1 on the season, striking out five without issuing a walk. The senior right-hander allowed four earned runs on eight hits.
Brock Lambert and
Remy Marsh both recorded an inning of scoreless relief work.
HCU hosts the Nicholls Colonels for a three-game Southland Conference series this Thursday through Saturday, Apr. 2-4, at Husky Field.
