| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Baptist (14-20, 6-3) | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 0 |
| Northern Colorado (14-20, 5-4) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 1 |
| @ Greeley, Colo. | Jackson Field | ||||||||||||
| Pitching |
|---|
| Win: Dalton Schafer (4-5) - Houston Baptist |
| Loss: Jess Amedee (4-2) - Northern Colorado |
| Save: Jake Gonzalez (3) - Houston Baptist |
Rally falls short for Baseball in series opener
Jess Amedee Audio | Carl Iwasaki Audio
By JORDAN FREEMYER
UNCBears.com
GREELEY -- Despite a strong pitching effort from freshman Jess Amedee and a 4-for-5 day for senior first baseman Casey Coy, the Northern Colorado baseball team dropped a 6-5 decision to Houston Baptist in Friday's series-opener at Jackson Field.
Coy looked to be in position to be the hero for the Bears as he stepped to the plate with men on first and second and one out in the ninth with the Bears trailing 6-4, but was frozen on a 2-2 splitter from HBU closer Jake Gonzalez for the second out of the inning.
"Sometimes you've got to tip your cap, but I'd like to foul that ball off, give myself another chance," Coy said.
The Bears got on the board in the first inning when freshman Jensen Park reached on a fielder's choice that scored fellow freshman Ryan Yamane, who reached on a sharp single through the right side.
"We had two runners in scoring position and we let them off the hook," Northern Colorado head coach Carl Iwasaki said. "We scored one, we'll take it, but we should put two-to-three up on the board."
The Huskies struck back in the top of the third on a two-run home run from second baseman Josh Foust. Houston Baptist added two more on a double by Gonzalez to take a 4-1 lead.
The Bears got a run back in the bottom of the inning on Park's single through the right side that drove in Coy, who had doubled to lead off the inning.
"I wasn't getting it done in that inning," Amedee said. "I started making my adjustments and finally got it going, it was just a little too late."
Amedee settled down after that, scattering three singles in his final three innings of work as the game settled in at 4-2. Amedee tossed six innings on the day, allowing four runs on 10 hits while striking out six.
"We're going to rely on Jess in a month from now," Iwasaki said. "His ball was up today, that's where the issue was with him in that one inning."
Sophomore Josh Tinnon came on in relief of Amedee in the seventh and, like his predecessor on the mound, had trouble with Foust and Gonzalez. Foust doubled to lead off the inning, but was erased on a fielder's choice and Gonzalez hit a two-run home run, his fourth of the season, to give the Huskies a 6-2 lead.
However, Coy was in the middle of another Bears rally in the bottom of the inning, tripling home Yamane and freshman Eric Ferguson to cut the HBU lead to 6-4.
"That's the biggest thing for me, getting those RBIs and keeping my team in the game," Coy said.
The two teams take the field tomorrow for a doubleheader beginning at noon. The first game is scheduled for seven innings, while game two will be the full-length nine inning affair.
Photo by: Kim Berggren
