HOUSTON, Texas – The New Orleans Privateers left it all out on the field and spent the game applying pressure in a big rally attempt that ultimately ended in a 16-11 loss to the HCU Huskies on Friday night at Husky Field.
HCU earned the automatic bid with the victory and will appear in their first NCAA regional in 10 years.
The Privateers fell behind 6-0 after two innings as HCU put up a five-run second inning. Four of those came with two outs.
New Orleans cracked the scoreboard in a big way in the third.
Alexander Saunier ripped a double off the wall in right field that brought in the first run. Then
Tristan Moore set the stage for what was a huge night as he homered to center and drove in three runs to cut the deficit to 6-4.
Both teams traded crooked numbers in the fourth as HCU narrowly outscored New Orleans 3-2 in that frame.
The Privateers brought the lead down to three again when
Bryan Loriga homered on the first pitch he saw. After that homer, Louis Castano came in out of the pen and he and
Sawyer Toney matched scoreless frames until the eighth inning.
After HCU scored four in their half of the eighth, the Privateers came back with four of their own all on one swing of the bat. Moore hit a grand slam to left, his second homer of the game, and 33
rd of his career. That cut the Huskies' lead to 14-11.
HCU closer, Ben Norton came on right after that and got the last four outs for his ninth save of the season. The Privateers ended their season with a 28-26 record under first year head coach
Dax Norris.
ALL-TOURNAMENT
Bryce Calloway,
Matt Gonzalez, and Moore all earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. That is the second most All-Tournament selections since the Privateers joined the Southland Conference.
INSIDE THE BOX
Moore finished with two home runs and seven RBI and vaulted himself into fifth place on the program's all-time home runs list with 33. Calloway and Saunier each added two hits.
Collin Husser paced the team in hits with three. Gonzalez scored three runs along with a hit and a walk.
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