HOUSTON, Texas – Houston Baptist fought off a comeback Friday, walking off with an 8-7 Southland Conference win over Southeastern Louisiana at Husky Field.
Down, 4-0, in the third, Southeastern (14-7, 5-2 Southland) cut the HBU (9-11, 1-3 Southland) lead in half.
Designated hitter
Webb Bobo and shortstop
Brennan Breaud smacked back-to-back triples to open up the inning. Breaud later scored on a passed ball.
The Huskies added a run of their own in the third on a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly, pushing their lead to 5-2.
Southeastern continued to hack away at the lead with solo home runs by
Derrick Mount and
Ryan Byers leading off the fourth and fifth innings, respectively.
HBU reached Lion starting pitcher
Mac Sceroler for a two-run home run in the sixth, pushing its lead back to three, 7-4.
The Lions finally pulled even in the seventh.
Byers drew a leadoff walk to chase the Huskies' starting pitcher, Addison Russ, from the game. Left fielder
Drew Avans then greeted reliever Daniel Endsley with a single through the right side. Second baseman
Carson Crites followed with a three-run homer to left, his second home run in as many games.
HBU broke the tie in the bottom of the ninth. After a leadoff walk and a sacrifice bunt, Huskies' right fielder Brandon Brintz singled to left field to drive in the winning run from second base.
JT Newton (2-0) earned the win for the Huskies, working 2.2 scoreless innings to close out the game.
Evan Hileman (3-2) suffered the loss, giving up one run in 2.2 innings of relief.
Avans (3-for-5) and Mount (2-for-5) led Southeastern at the plate.
Sophomore right-hander
Corey Gaconi (2-0, 2.60) gets the starting nod for Southeastern Saturday at 1 p.m. versus HBU senior left-hander Christian Thames (2-1, 3.64).
Saturday's game can be heard in the Hammond, Louisiana, area on KSLU 90.9 FM and worldwide online or through the TuneIn Radio app (search for KSLU). Fans can keep up with the game through live statistics or by following @SLUathletics on Twitter.
A free video stream is also available, courtesy HBU. Links for audio, video and stats can be found on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Houston Baptist 8, Southeastern 7 (Mar 24, 2017 at Houston, Texas)
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Southeastern......... 002 110 300 - 7 11 1 (14-7, 5-2 SLC)
Houston Baptist..... 311 002 001 - 8 8 2 (9-11, 1-3 SLC)
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Pitchers: Southeastern - Sceroler, Mac; Hileman, Evan (6) and Pace, Evan. Houston Baptist - Russ, Addison; Endsley, Daniel (7); Newton, JT (7) and Thomas, Blake.
Win-Newton, JT (2-0) Loss-Hileman, Evan (3-2) T-2:52 A-401
HR SLU - Byers, Ryan (3); Crites, Carson (3); Mount, Derrick (2).
HR HBU - Heck, Matt (1).
Weather: 79 overcast, wind: SSE 17
Russ, A. faced 1 batter in the 7th.
