HUNTSVILLE, Texas – In a bit of déjà vu, the HCU baseball team earned a regular season-ending win on the road at Don Sanders Stadium on Tuesday evening, just two days before the start of the SLC Tournament after doing the same things in 2025. The Huskies defeated the Bearkats, 4-3, to wrap up the regular season.
In the top of the second, HCU (23-27) got on the board after quickly putting runners in scoring position thanks to a leadoff single from
Jack Walker and an
Anthony Avalos walk followed by a
Rhett Hendricks sacrifice bunt.
Graham Laxton then came through with a single through the left side to score Walker and move Avalos over to third. After a walk to
Zach Munton put runners on the corners,
Walker Bazile lifted a sacrifice fly to right to bring Avalos across the plate and give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
The Bearkats (23-30) manufactured a run of their own in the bottom half of the second. A leadoff single, a stolen base, a fly out and a fielder's choice were enough to push across a run and cut the Huskies' lead in half. After a pair of quiet innings, Sam Houston knotted the score at 2-2 on a home run to left from Hunter Alvord.
With one out in the top of the seventh, Munton drove a double to right center field with one out. Bazile and
Luke Bard then drew consecutive walks to load the bases.
Katcher Halligan did a job and hit a sacrifice fly to shallow left to score Munton and put the Huskies back in the lead, 3-2. IN the bottom of the inning, a one-out single, a wild pitch, a fly out and another wild pitch gave the Bearkats another run to tie things up, 3-3.
The winning run came in the eighth as a leadoff single, a walk, a fielder's choice, a balk and a wild pitch equaled a run for the Huskies. IN the bottom of the eighth, reliever
Matthew Rheaume allowed a leadoff double and eventually worked his way out of a tough spot with runners on second and third with one out. In the ninth,
Ben Norton worked out of his own sticky situation, stranding runners on second and third with a strikeout to end the game.
Nine different pitchers, throwing an inning each, combined to strikeout 11 batters while limiting Sam Houston to three earned runs on six hits. Rheaume earned the win, striking out the side in a scoreless eighth and moving to 1-0 on the year. Norton picked up the save, his sixth of the season.
Bard and Walker both collected two hits for the Huskies while Avalos scored twice, reaching two times via walk. The Huskies finished the night with six base hits.
