AUSTIN – Huston-Tillotson University's baseball team concluded its season-opening series against Central Christian College (Kan.) with a second doubleheader split in as many days.
At HT's historic Downs Field on 12th Street in east Austin, the Rams (2-2) won Saturday's opener 11-3, while their visitors took the second game by a score of 10-3.
In the opening contest, the Rams scored the first 11 runs of the game and cruised to victory behind pitcher
Rece Houghton's six shutout innings. Houghton struck out four batters and scattered seven hits while throwing 116 pitches.
After Houghton got out of an early jam in the second inning with two runners in scoring position, his teammates created some distance between themselves and the visiting Tigers by scoring six runs in the bottom of the second.
Kadarien Harris' three-RBI double, and DiAngelo Del Valle's two-RBI double helped the Rams build a 7-0 lead after two innings.
Harris picked up another RBI in the bottom of the third when his triple to left field scored teammate Alijah Merkson, who was on the basepaths in place of catcher
Jorge Saucedo. Harris later scored on a passed ball to stretch HT's lead to 9-0.
The Rams plated two more in the fourth inning when
Gary Wafford's triple scored
Noah Alvarez and gave Wafford his second RBI of the game. He then came home on
Luke Vizcarra's sacrifice fly.
Central Christian scored three runs in the top of the seventh and final inning, two of which scored on Braedon Ulrich's two-run homerun.
In game two, the Tigers scored the first seven runs of the game in the second and third innings as they salvaged a split of the day's doubleheader and the four-game series.
The Rams scored two runs in the bottom of the third with no outs as
Kendall Brown and
Noah Alvarez hit back-to-back RBI singles that scored
Adam Sheehan and Harris. HT then loaded the bases before Central Christian's starting pitcher Nick Clayson got out of the inning with groundball fielder's choice and two strikeouts.
Alvarez had two RBIs in game two as he also knocked a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning that scored Jaden Corzine.
Steel Kupec pitched one and two-thirds innings of shutout relief in game two.
Jonathon Ovalle took the loss for the Rams. Vizcarra, who did not pitch in 2024, tossed a scoreless seventh inning in which he struck out two batters and gave up a double and a walk.
The Rams further connected their history to Downs Field when they debuted throwback uniforms that pay homage to the Austin Black Senators, a black minor league baseball team that existed from the mid-1920s through the 1940s and possibly into the 1950s, and played home games at Downs Field. Austin native Willie Wells, who was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, was one of the Black Senators' most famous alumni.
HT returns to action Saturday, Feb. 1, when they host the first of two weekend doubleheaders against Bethany College (Kan.). First pitch of the series is scheduled for noon.
The Rams swept four games from Bethany College to open the 2024 season.
– HT –
