AUSTIN – Huston-Tillotson University opened the 2025 baseball season Friday by splitting a doubleheader with Central Christian College (Kan.).
At historic Downs Field on 12th Street in east Austin, the visiting Tigers won the opening game 10-0 before the Rams claimed an exciting 12-10 victory in the second contest.
In the Rams' game two victory,
Gary Wafford,
Noah Alvarez, and
DiAngelo Del Valle collected three RBIs apiece. Wafford's three RBIs came on a first-inning home run to left field, while Alvarez picked up his three on a pair of doubles during his three-hit showing.
The Rams scored three runs in each of the first three innings and led 9-5 before Central Christian reclaimed the lead with five runs in the top of the fifth. HT then tied the game with consecutive one-out doubles from
Kendall Brown and Alvarez.
Central Christian opted to give Wafford an intentional walk with first base open, then Alvarez and Wafford moved into scoring position when Branta Mikulecky threw a wild pitch to Del Valle. Del Valle then knocked a single that scored both his teammates and proved to be the game-winning RBIs.
Pitching in relief,
Steel Kupec faced the minimum six batters in the last two innings to preserve the victory. He gave up a leadoff single in the sixth but got out of the inning with a strikeout and popout double play that was aided by poor baserunning from the Tigers.
Alvarez and Brown had three hits apiece in the game, with Brown and Wafford scoring three times for the Rams.
Kadarien Harris scored twice for HT, as did
Adam Sheehan, who also hit a double in the game.
Freshman pitcher Cullen Lee, the brother of senior pitcher
Brycen Lee, started for the Rams and showed promise in his collegiate debut. Central Christian's five-run fifth skewed Cullen Lee's pitching line, but the freshman hurler showed poise and control as he threw 95 pitches over four and two-thirds innings.
Kupec got the win after pitching final two and one-third innings, allowing only an unearned run.
In the opener, the Tigers' Nick Julian struck out six batters over six shutout innings to earn the victory. Six different Rams collected hits in the game, including freshman Jaden Corzine, who entered the game when
Alec Worden left the contest with an injury. Worden, a fifth-year senior, also had a hit in his only at-bat.
– HT –
