By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
HOUSTON – Freshman Hudson Brignac, a former Benton star, had his first career four-hit game in Northwestern State’s 17-10 loss to Houston Christian Friday.
The game was the first of a three-game Southland Conference series. Houston Christian (21-11, 13-3) leads the conference. NSU (20-15, 12-7) is fifth.
Brignac, a third baseman, is having a stellar season. He has appeared in all 35 games and started 32.
Brignac leads the team in batting average at .340. He has six extra-base hits and 15 RBI.
Houston Christian tallied double-figure hits and double-figure walks as the Huskies erased a couple of early deficits en route to the victory at Husky Field.
“Poor pitching and poor defensive performances in high-stakes baseball games will always produce that result,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “That’s really the bottom line – we didn’t pitch the ball in a competitive spirit way that we should expect anything different. Our defense definitely did not complement some of the struggles we had on the mound – especially against a team that is leading the league. In a high-stakes baseball game, you would expect and want a little better in those two phases.”
While the Demons (20-15, 12-7) issued 14 walks, HCU gave Northwestern a chance to stay in the game – and it did early.
Down 3-1 in the third inning, Northwestern flipped the score with Samuel Stephenson’s grand slam that put the Demons up 5-3.
That lead did not last as the Huskies (21-11, 13-3) stormed back with a seven-run third inning that chased Northwestern starter Dylan Marionneaux (3-3).
Marionneaux issued the first four of the Demons’ walks while all five Demon pitchers who saw action walked at least one batter as did all three HCU pitchers.
HCU reliever Louis Castano (4-0) was the beneficiary of the seven-run frame and a four-run fourth that followed.
Castano worked 4 1-3 innings of three-run relief, allowing Clay Jung’s two-run home run in the sixth that briefly cut the lead to six.
“I think we did some really good things,” Bertrand said. “Any time you can chase another team’s Friday night starter in the third inning – especially one who’s been having success leaguewide – that’s an accomplishment for our offense. There was some good in that Clay Jung was on base five times. Hudson Brignac was on base five times tonight. Braden Benton scored three runs tonight and had another good night. I think there’s plenty that we can pull from in that regard.”
Benton (2-for-5) and Stephenson (3-for-5, career-high tying 5 RBIs) also had multi-hit games for the Demons.
After Jung’s home run brought the Demons back within six, the Huskies had one final answer scoring a pair of two-out runs – one of which came on one of four Northwestern errors on the night.
“We have to learn as a team how to hold momentum,” Bertrand said. “When you go out and throw a punch that gives you momentum in one phase of the game, the other parts of the game have to go out and hold that momentum. Tonight, we did a really poor job, even with our early responses, of holding momentum.”
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. with a matchup of right-handers. Northwestern will send Tyler Bryan (1-4, 6.97) to the mound against HCU’s Joshua Caravalho (6-1, 4.15).
HCU 17, Northwestern State 10
NSU 104 102 002 – 10 12 4
HCU 037 402 01x – 17 14 2
W – Louis Castano (4-0). L – Dylan Marionneaux (3-3). 2B – NSU, Braden Benton. HCU, Katcher Halligan. HR – NSU, Clay Jung (4), Samuel Stephenson (4). Highlights: NSU, Benton 2-5, 2B; Stephenson 3-5, HR, 5 RBIs; Hudson Brignac 4-4, RBI. HCU, Kenneth Dutka 3-7, 3 RBIs; Jack Walker 2-6, RBI; Parker Edwards 2-5, 2 RBIs; Luke Bard 2-4, RBI; Rhett Hendricks 2-3, RBI.
Records: Northwestern State 20-15, 12-7; HCU 21-11, 13-3.
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