NATCHITOCHES – Some of the adversity the Northwestern State baseball team faced Friday night against HCU in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference series was out of its control.
Some of it was of its own doing.
It all added up to a 5-2 HCU victory at Brown-Stroud Field.
"The true turning points of the game on our side of it were 11 runners left on base in the first six innings and the way our at-bats were not competitive enough with runners in scoring position and with the bases loaded," third-year head coach
Chris Bertrand said. "I didn't think we played or caught ground balls in a way that was run preventative tonight. We've got to get back to some of the fundamental things about the game that are winning ways if we expect to walk away with wins."
The tenor of the matchup changed in the fourth inning of a 1-all tie when Anthony Avalos' long fly ball down the left-field line appeared to curl foul but was ruled a home run.
The call was confirmed by the crew and gave HCU (15-18, 7-9) a 2-1 lead.
Northwestern (22-12, 13-6) battled back and tied the game on a run-scoring passed ball in its half of the fourth, but a weeklong problem continued to show up.
The Demons were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position against HCU. In the first three games of its season-long, five-game homestand, Northwestern is a combined 3-for-36 with runners in scoring position.
"Putting the ball in play with two strikes, moving the baseball hard with runners in scoring position and making run-preventative plays on ground balls are some of the fundamental things that were lacking tonight," Bertrand said.
HCU continued to pressure the Demon pitching staff, tallying 14 hits.
One of the biggest came in the sixth inning when Rhett Hendricks delivered his second double of the game, one that put the Huskies ahead to stay, off
Kevin Robinson (0-2), who worked six strong innings in his first career Southland regular-season start.
A two-run single from Jack Walker in the seventh inning that just eluded a diving
Thomas Marsala III gave the Huskies a three-run lead.
The bullpen trio of Brock Lambert (1-0), Ben Norton and Kyler Mentzel (first save) carried the Huskies the rest of the way, scattering three hits across 5 2-3 shutout innings of relief.
"I thought our guys did a decent job (of shaking off adversity)," Bertrand said. "It's not about the emotion that comes with it, because we understand. What it is, if you harbor it too long, then it becomes distractive. When it becomes distractive on the mind and we still have four or five innings of baseball to pay, we've got to do a better job of throwing that away and not allowing it to harbor and distract as we move forward."
The series continues at 2 p.m. Saturday with a matchup of right-handers.
Dylan Marionneaux (3-2, 5.03) takes the mound for Northwestern against HCU's David Lopez (4-1, 2.93).
HCU 5, Northwestern State 2
HCU 100 101 200 – 5 14 1
NSU 001 100 000 – 2 10 1
W – Brock Lambert (1-0). L –
Kevin Robinson (0-2). S – Kyler Mentzel (1). 2B – HCU, Rhett Hendricks 2, Jeremy Rader. HR – HCU, Anthony Avalos (1). NSU, JT Simonelli (5). Highlights: HCU, Jack Walker 2-4, 2 RBIs; Avalos 3-5, HR, RBI; Hendricks 2-5, 2 2Bs, RBI; Preston Curtis 2-4; Tyree Jackson 2-4. NSU,
Brooks Leonard 3-5;
Noah McNeil 2-4;
Joe Siervo 2-3;
Michael McAloose 2-4.
Records: HCU 15-18, 7-9; Northwestern State 22-12, 13-6.
