NATCHITOCHES, La. – HCU used five pitchers to piece together a strong team effort on the mound while five different players enjoyed multi-hit games and the Huskies handed the conference-leading Northwestern State Demons a 5-2 loss on Friday night at Brown-Stroud Field.
The Huskies (15-18, 7-9 SLC) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first with a pair of two-out singles setting the table and an error on a
Katcher Halligan grounder to first allowed
Luke Bard to score. Northwestern State (22-12, 13-6 SLC) got on the board in the third thanks to a JT Simonelli solo home run to left on the first pitch of the inning, evening the score at 1-1.
HCU's
Anthony Avalos answered in the top of the fourth with a leadoff solo home run of his own down the left field line, putting the Huskies back ahead by one. The Demons pulled right back to even in the bottom half of the inning, however, on a passed ball with two outs.
Things remained knotted at 2-2 until the sixth when Avalos reached on a one-out single that was immediately followed by an RBI double to the right center gap off the bat of
Rhett Hendricks for a 3-2 HCU lead. The Huskies then added two more insurance runs in the top of the seventh as
Jeremy Rader led the inning off with a double followed by a
Nico DeFazio single, putting runners on the corners with nobody out. DeFazio stole second and two batters later
Jack Walker stung a ball to the right side that went off the glove of a diving Thomas Marsala III at first base and trickled into the outfield to bring home two more runs.
The HCU pitching staff showed a bend but don't break mentality for much of the game as the Huskies' arms stranded runners in each of the first seven innings.
Brock Lambert earned the win, tossing 1.2 innings in relief with three strikeouts and no runs allowed while giving up two hits.
Kyler Mentzel picked up his first save with a perfect ninth inning that included two punchouts.
Trent Barnes started on the mound, tossing a single scoreless inning, and was followed by
Joshua Caravalho who allowed two runs, one earned, in 2.1 innings of work. Caravalho scattered six hits, struck out three and walked two.
Ben Norton worked the sixth through eighth innings for HCU, tossing three shutout innings with three strikeouts, two walks and one hit allowed. In total, HCU pitchers left 12 NSU runners on base.
At the plate, Avalos scored twice while driving in one and going 3-for-5 on the night. The home run was his first of the season. Hendricks, returning to the lineup after missing 11 games, went 2-for-5 with two doubles and one RBI. Walker finished 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBI while
Preston Curtis and
Tyree Jackson each had two hits, as well. Bard kept his hitting streak going with a 1-for-5 night and has now hit safely in 13 consecutive games. Much like their counterparts in purple and orange, the Huskies left a number of runners on base with 11 stranded over the course of the evening.
The Huskies and Demons play game two on Saturday, Apr. 11, at 2:00 p.m.
