HAMMOND, La. – Trailing the No. 4 seed Nicholls Colonels, 5-4, heading into the seventh inning, the No. 8 seed HCU Huskies tied things up in the seventh to set the stage for
Levi Castilleja to hit a two-out, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth and send HCU to the next round of the 2026 Southland Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
The Huskies (24-28) were the home team and started the game on defense. Starter
David Lopez found himself in a jam in the opening frame but left the bases loaded while keeping the Colonels (25-26) off the board. In the bottom half,
Katcher Halligan,
Jack Walker and
Anthony Avalos all drew walks to load the bases with two outs.
Levi Castilleja then lined a single into center field to score to and stake HCU to an early 2-0 lead.
Nicholls answered in the second, taking advantage of a pair of HCU errors, three walks, three stolen bases, a balk, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly to score twice and even the score at 2-2. HCU came right back in the bottom of the second when
Graham Laxton drew a one-out walk followed by a
Luke Bard single that moved Laxton over to third and allowed Bard to advance to second on the throw. Halligan then drove in Laxton from third with a groundout up the middle for a 3-2 HCU advantage.
The Colonels again came right back in the next inning, pushing across two more runs with help from another HCU error, three walks and another wild pitch. One run came across on a fielder's choice with the other on a two-out single, putting the Colonels ahead, 4-3. That lead grew to 5-4 in the next inning when a Greyson Shafer bloop single into center with two outs brought Carter Jenkins around to score from first as
Jack Walker misplayed the ball on the bounce.
The Huskies threatened in the bottom of the fourth, but stranded a pair on the bases. HCU then got one back in the fifth as
Preston Curtis worked a bases loaded walk after falling behind in the count, 1-2, to make it a 5-4 ballgame. HCU reliever
Joshua Caravalho set down the Colonels in order in both the sixth and seventh innings to keep the game within one run for the Huskies. In the bottom half of the seventh,
Rhett Hendricks came up with a double down the right field line before scoring on a bloop single into no-man's land in shallow left center by Curtis to knot the score at 5-5.
Nicholls loaded the bases in the eighth but reliever
Brock Lambert come on with two out and induced an inning-ending groundout to short. After the Huskies went down in order in their half of the eighth, Nicholls again threated in the ninth. The Colonels put two runners on but
Ben Norton came on in relief to get two-straight outs and put an end to the threat. Castilleja came up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and launched an 0-1 offering over the left field wall to end it in dramatic fashion less than 24 hours after HCU's walk-off loss to Southeastern on Thursday night.
Castilleja finished the day 3-for-4 at the plate, driving in three runs and scoring one. His home run was his fourth of the season. Bard also had a multi-hit day, going 2-for-5 in the leadoff spot in the order. Curtis ended the day with a pair of RBI.
On the mound, Norton picked up the win with two-thirds of an inning pitched, improving to 3-1 on the year. Lopez, HCU's starter, allowed four runs with just one of them earned in 2-2 innings. Caravalho tossed five innings in relief, giving up just one unearned run while striking out two, walking two and allowing four hits.
HCU will move on to Saturday, May 16, for a 1:00 p.m. rematch against the No. 1 seed Southeastern Lions.
