Box Score HOUSTON – In a field filled with hits, Houston Christian's Logan Letney came up with the biggest.
 
Letney's two-run, pinch-hit double capped a three-run eighth inning for the Huskies, leading them to a 14-13 back-and-forth win against Northwestern State in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference series Friday afternoon at Husky Field.
 
"That field had a lot of hits in it today,' seventh-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "The game could have been in hand earlier. We weren't very tough at all when the conditions got us going. We didn't handle it well at all. We didn't handle well on the mound. We made so many mistakes in the first three or four innings of the game."
 
The Demons (18-14, 4-3) stranded a pair of runners in scoring position in the first inning, allowing HCU right-hander Baylor Baumann to wiggle out of the jam unscathed. The Huskies (7-22, 4-3) did not miss their chance in the bottom of the inning.
 
With runners on second and third and one out, Cal Carver struck out Tyler LaRue before Reed Chumley connected on a three-run home run to give HCU an early led.
 
The Demons answered with a pair of solo home runs in the second inning as Jake Haze led off with his first career home run and, two batters later, Bo Willis connected on his third of the season. Willis has homered in the opening game of all three of the Demons' Southland Conference series this season and five times in his 11 career SLC series.
 
The Demons' mistakes crept in across the next two innings as HCU extended its lead with three unearned runs, setting in motion an error-filled game that featured eight errors and 12 unearned runs.
 
The teams traded a flurry of runs with HCU's three-run sixth putting it ahead 11-6 before it was the Huskies' turn to give away a massive scoring opportunity.
 
After Willis' RBI double cut the lead to 11-7 and put runners on second and third with one out in the seventh, HCU reliever Jarek Wells snared a hard-hit comebacker from Jacob Farrell and checked on Broch Holmes at third base.
 
Wells then casually flipped the ball to first base, short-hopping his target to allow Farrell to reach and load the bases. That turned out to be the least costly of HCU's three errors in the inning.
 
One pitch later, Damian Ruiz dropped Jeffrey Elkins' fly ball to right and sailed a throw over second base for another error, clearing the bases and putting Elkins at third with one out.
 
Gabe Colaianni's sacrifice fly tied the game before Michael Dattalo's two-out double set up a two-run home run by Daunte Stuart on an 0-2 pitch that gave the Demons a 13-11 lead – their first of the game.
 
"Good job by us to have the good run in the seventh, but at the same time, that could have been a run that put us up six or seven if we had played the right way early," Barbier said.
 
Dawson Flowers stranded two runners in scoring position in a scoreless seventh before Javan Smitherman (1-1) left Willis at second after the Demon catcher's career-high-tying fourth hit of the game, a two-out double.
 
That set up the Huskies' three-run eighth that started with a Chumley single and a flare single by Austin Roccaforte off Flowers' pitching hand.
 
Kyle Froehlich (3-1) relieved Flowers and struck out Dylan LaRue before Parker Edwards dumped an RBI single to shallow left. Letney followed with the go-ahead, two-run double to left.
 
The Demons put together one final surge in the ninth as Dattalo matched his career high with his fourth hit – a two-out single to right – and Stuart worked a full-count walk. Morris Austin closed out the game, getting the final out on a Gray Rowlett grounder to deny the Demons' their third straight SLC series-opening win.
 
The series continues with a 1 p.m. Saturday game. Right-hander Drayton Brown (2-4, 4.81) will start for Northwestern State against HCU right-hander Walker Zander (1-3, 6.10).
 
Houston Christian 14, Northwestern State 13
NSU       020 112 700 – 13 16 2
HCU       321 023 03x – 14 18 0
W – Javan Smitherman (1-1). L – Kyle Froehlich (3-1). S – Morris Austin (1). 2B – NSU, Bo Willis 2, Michael Dattalo. HCU, Samuel Benjamin 2, Reed Chumley, Dylan LaRue, Logan Letney. HR – NSU, Jake Haze (1), Bo Willis (3), Daunte Stuart (6). Highlights: NSU, Dattalo 4-5, 2B, RBI; Haze 3-5, HR, RBI; Willis 4-5, 2 2Bs, HR, 2 RBIs; Jacob Farrell 2-4, RBI. HCU, Trent Baker 2-5; Benjamin 2-5, 2 2Bs; Chumley 4-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBIs; Austin Roccaforte 4-5; Parker Edwards 3-5, 2 RBIs.
Records: Northwestern State 18-14, 4-3; Houston Christian 7-22, 4-3