HAMMOND, La. – HCU saw its season come to a close on Saturday afternoon at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field as the eighth-seeded Huskies dropped an 8-4 ballgame to No. 1 seed Southeastern in an elimination game at the 2026 Southland Conference Tournament.
The Lions (33-20) took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third on a one-out, three-run home run to right field. That lead grew in the bottom of the fourth when SLU got a double from Ben Robichaux followed by a triple off the bat of Mo Little to add one and prompt an HCU (24-29) pitching change. Dane Watts welcomed reliever
Trent Barnes with an RBI single to left center, bringing the score to 5-0.
The Huskies cut into their deficit in the sixth after being held in check for five innings by SLU starter Truitt Webb.
Luke Bard led off the inning with a single before advancing to second on a wild pitch before
Walker Bazile drew a walk. A
Jeremy Rader sacrifice bunt moved them both into scoring position and
Katcher Halligan brought one run home with a groundout up the middle. Two batters later, with runners on the corners and two outs,
Levi Castilleja lined a single to left center to score Bazile for a 5-2 score.
In the bottom of the sixth, SLU added one more thanks to a leadoff double by Justin Williams and an RBI single from Robichaux. The Lions added single runs in both the seventh and the eighth. The Huskies were able to score two more in the top of the ninth on
Preston Curtis's eighth home run of the season, a two-run shot down the left field line.
Castilleja finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate, driving in one. Curtis, meanwhile, went 2-for-4 in the loss with a pair of RBI and one run scored. The Huskies scored their four runs on five hits while Southeastern recorded 12 hits.
Jacob Cyr fell to 0-2 on the year, pitching 3.1 innings and allowed five earned runs on five hits while striking out one and walking none. Six HCU relievers combined to pitch the final 4.2 innings.
