HAMMOND, La. – The 2026 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament begins on Thursday evening for the No. 8 seed HCU baseball team as the Huskies face No. 1 seed Southeastern at Pat Kenelly Diamond and Alumni Field at 6:00 p.m.
The Huskies (23-27, 13-17 SLC) enter the tournament coming off a 4-3 win over the Sam Houston Bearkats on Tuesday evening and were the only team in the league to play a midweek game this week. HCU similarly played a Tuesday game on the road against the Bearkts, winning 6-3, before opening the 2025 SLC Tournament and going on a perfect sweep through the bracket for the conference championship.
HCU earned its spot in the 2026 tournament with a 9-5 win over Lamar this past Sunday, scoring nine runs on just four hits. The Huskies made good use of their limited base hits with
Luke Bard and
Jack Walker both clubbing grand slams in the win.
Louis Castano picked up his fourth win of the season in relief, allowing three earned runs in five innings of work while striking out a career-high nine and walking none.
Bard continues to pace the HCU offense, batting .357 with 13 extra-base hits in 126 at bats. Walker, meanwhile, has started all but one game for the Huskies and carries a .309 average with a team-high 42 runs scored. He has a .311 career average at HCU across two seasons. Second baseman
Anthony Avalos, meanwhile, enters Thursday's game having reached safely in some form or fashion in 14 consecutive games.
On the mound, senior
David Lopez has been the team's most consistent starter. Lopez has a 4-3 record and an impressive 67 strikeouts in just 49.1 innings and a 4.01 ERA. Castano owns team's best ERA, checking in at 3.66 with 58 punchouts in 51.2 innings while walking just 16. Closer
Ben Norton locked down his sixth save of the season on Tuesday, tied for seventh-most in a single season at HCU while his 15 career saves tie him for third all-time.
Southeastern (31-19, 19-9 SLC) earned the outright SLC regular season title by one game over Lamar. The Lions were unable to play their final two games of the season due to an unplayable field after heavy rains in Hammond last weekend.
The Lions are tied for the second-best team batting average in the conference, hitting .281 collectively with Peyton Woods leading the way at .352. Ben Robichaux has scored a team-best 53 runs to lead the SLC this season while Brody Capps leads SLU with 49 RBI. On the mound, Nik Toups and Truitt Webb are tied for the team-lead with five wins. Toups has struck out a team-best 57 batters in 47.1 innings.
The Huskies were swept in a trio of games played in Hammond in late April.
The winner and loser of Thursday evening's game will play the corresponding winner and loser from the 1:00 p.m. game between No. 4 Nicholls and No. 5 McNeese.
