By Alan Wiederhold
HT Athletic Communications
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NORTHPORT, Ala. – Huston-Tillotson University's baseball team won the HBCU Athletic Conference's West Division earlier this week and head to the league's postseason tournament this weekend in search of their first conference championship since 1998.
Under fifth-year head coach Chase Almendarez, the Rams (25-19) won eight of their last nine conference games to finish with a 15-6 league record. After winning two of their three games against Tougaloo (Miss.) to end the regular season, the Rams began celebrating Sunday when Southern–New Orleans defeated Wiley 1-0, giving HT the outright division crown.
As one of the top two seeded teams in this weekend's 2026 Hope Credit Union HBCUAC Baseball Championship tournament, the Rams are a strong contender to win their first conference title in 28 years, having won the Big State Conference championship in 1998. The Rams open tournament play against Voorhees (S.C.) at noon Saturday, April 25. All games will be played River Run Park in Northport, Ala.
HT's fans have enjoyed the journey throughout the Rams' first season in the HBCU Athletic Conference. Early in the season, the Rams strung together six consecutive victories, their longest such streak since 2008. That streak was capped with a 3-2 win at Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio, HT's first road win over their former Red River Athletic Conference rival in program history.
The Rams fielded the best one-two pitching combination in the conference, as junior Ethan Walker (La Vernia, Texas) and senior transfer Weston Bailey (Austin, Texas / Ouachita Baptist) tied for the league lead with seven wins. Both pitchers went 7-2 and posted ERAs of 2.52 or less; Bailey has won each of his last seven starts.
HT's lineup boasts five players hitting .300 or better, led by junior college transfer Trey Garza, who led the team with a .364 batting average while also starring at third base.
Jaden Corzine enters the HBCU Athletic Conference's postseason tournament with an 11-game hitting streak, while three other players (Jacob Perez, Christian Medina, and Alec Worden) have current on-base streaks of 10 or more games.
The Rams went 19-5 in home games this season playing at historic Downs Field in East Austin. HT won 10 of their 12 conference games at home in 2026.
The longtime home of the HT baseball (and Samuel Huston College prior to its 1952 merger with Tillotson College), Downs Field also hosted pre-integration black minor league baseball in the first half of the 20th century. Smokey Joe Williams, Willie Mays, and Austin native Willie Wells are among the National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees to have played at Downs Field.
All games at the Hope Credit Union Baseball Championship will be streamed to the Urban Edge Network.
– HT –
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