By Alan Wiederhold-Sohn
Sports Information Director
PINEVILLE, La. – Huston-Tillotson University's baseball team avoided a sweep from the Red River Athletic Conference's second-place team Friday as they claimed an 8-7 road win at Louisiana Christian.
The bottom half of the Rams' lineup provided all seven of the team's RBIs, with
Josh Wilk,
Brian Gardner, and
Noah Alvarez collecting three hits apiece. Gardner knocked home two runs, as did catcher
Jorge Saucedo, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Relief pitcher
Luke Almendarez pitched the final four innings to earn his first victory of the season. The senior transfer from the University of Houston, who also has three saves this season, set a new personal high for innings pitched in a game.
Trailing 3-0 in the fourth inning, the Rams tied the game with three runs in the frame. Gardner put the Rams on the board with an RBI single that scored
Zech Robichaux. Two batters later,
Luke Vizcarra's sacrifice fly scored
Josh Wilk, which was followed by Saucedo singling home Gardner.
Wilk added an RBI single in the fifth that scored
Adam Sheehan and gave the Rams a 4-3 lead. LCU matched that with an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth.
HT reclaimed the lead in the seventh when an error allowed Sheehan to score from second base. Gardner, Alvarez, and Saucedo knocked RBI singles in a span of four at-bats to stretch the HT lead to 8-4.
LCU added three runs in the bottom of the ninth, hitting four singles in their first five at-bats. Almendarez then got his second strikeout of the inning, which was followed by the game-winning out two batters after that.
The win gave the Rams some momentum as they prepare for a big home series against defending RRAC champion Houston–Victoria starting next Friday, April 5. Friday's contest is scheduled for 6 p.m., with the Saturday doubleheader set to begin noon.
– HT –
