PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – On Tuesday afternoon at Tankersley Field, the HCU baseball team cruised to a 12-2 win over the Prairie View A&M Panthers to break a four-game losing streak.
HCU (19-24) fell behind in the bottom half of the first on a two-run home run by Ryland Duson. In the top of the third,
Jeremy Rader doubled to lead things off. With one out,
Luke Bard drew a walk with one out to set the table for
Katcher Halligan to send a three-run blast over the right field wall and give the Huskies a 3-2 lead.
The lead grew in the fifth with Bard crossing the plate on a passed ball with two outs. In the sixth,
Anthony Avalos moved
Walker Bazile over to third with a two-out single followed by an infield single from Bard that allowed Bazile to score for a 5-2 HCU lead.
With one out,
Nico DeFazio walked, scoring on a
Preston Curtis double with Curtis moving up to third on the throw.
Coby Hatcher then scored Curtis with an RBI groundout. On the next pitch, Bazile hit a solo homer to extend the HCU lead to 8-2. After adding a run on a wild pitch in the eighth, HCU struck with two outs in the eighth with Avalos driving in a run with a single up the middle before Bard sent a two-run home run over the wall for the 12-2 final.
Bard finished the day 4-for-4 at the plate, hitting his first home run of the season while scoring four runs and driving in three runs and drawing a pair of walks. Halligan's round-tripper was his fifth of the year as he went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored. Avalos also had a two-hit game.
On the mound, seven pitchers combined to limit the hosts to just two earned runs on six hits and striking out eight while walking just two.
The Huskies will travel to Corpus Christi, Texas this weekend for a three-game Southland Conference series against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders. Games are set for Friday through Sunday, May 1-3.
