By Alan Wiederhold
Sports Information Director
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – Huston-Tillotson University's baseball team claimed its first win over an NCAA Division I program in five years Tuesday as they split a doubleheader at Prairie View A&M.
The Panthers won the first game 9-3 before the Rams salvaged the split with a 5-4 win in the second contest.
HT's win over Prairie View was their first over the Panthers since the 2015 season, when the Rams split two doubleheaders with PV. The Rams' last win over an NCAA Division I opponent was a 3-2 win at Texas Southern on March 20, 2019.
Gary Wafford's two-RBI double in sixth inning of game two proved to be the insurance the Rams needed as it gave HT a three-run lead when
Josh Wilk and
Noah Alvarez scored. The Panthers would plate two runs in the last inning of the seven-inning contest.
Brian Gardner gave the Rams a 2-1 lead in the top of the third when his single down the right-field line scored
Adam Sheehan and
Luke Vizcarra.
Zech Robichaux's RBI single in the fifth inning that again scored Sheehan stretched HT's lead to 3-1.
Jonathon Ovalle started and pitched four of the game's seven innings to pick up his first collegiate victory. He struck out four batters in the game. After PV scored twice in the last of the seventh inning,
Luke Almendarez – whose previous appearance was a 2-for-3 showing at shortstop against Jarvis Christian – got the last two outs for his third save of the season.
In the opening contest, Gardner's bases-clearing double in the top of the second gave the Rams an early 3-0 lead with no outs in the inning. Gardner eventually got to third base, but was stranded there as the Panthers scored nine unanswered runs over the course of the game.
Anthony Larzabal, a transfer to HT from Prairie View A&M, made his first start of the season against his former team. He allowed just one earned run over four innings of work and left the game with HT still in the lead.
The Rams return to action Thursday, March 28, when they visit Louisiana Christian for a three-game series. Thursday's doubleheader is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.
– HT –
