BOXSCORE: at Houston Baptist

HOUSTON, Texas - The Northern Colorado baseball team scored just three runs in the first of a four-game series at Houston Baptist on Thursday afternoon, dropping a 16-3 decision to the Huskies. The Bears are now 9-18 on the year, while the Huskies improve to 3-24.

Freshman Casey Coy, playing in just his second game back from an injury, was the offensive spark for NC, going 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI. The first five batters in the Bears lineup went without hits, though senior Kevin Sandberg did score two of the team's three runs after drawing walks in the second and seventh innings.

Freshman Joe Willman (1-4) was credited with the loss after pitching six innings. He gave up eight runs (three earned) on six hits, walking four and striking out four. Freshman Tony Crudo pitched the next 0.1 innings, surrendering four runs on four hits and junior Eric Skufca threw the final 1.2 innings allowing four runs (two earned) on three hits with two walks.

Northern Colorado scored its three runs on six hits and was aided by one Houston Baptist error, while HBU scored 16 runs on 13 hits and the Bears committed three errors.

The Bears jumped on the scoreboard first, scoring two runs in the second inning. Sandberg started the inning with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored after junior catcher Seth Budde singled and Coy doubled. Budde also came around to score on a single by senior Phil Santucci.

Houston Baptist took the lead in the bottom of the third with five runs, scored one more in the fifth and then tallied 10 over the seventh and eighth frames for the 16-3 victory.

Sandberg scored the Bears' other run in the top of the seventh. He drew a walk to begin the inning, moved to second on a walk to Budde and scored on a single through the left side by Coy.

The two teams meet again tomorrow in a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. (Central), Noon (Mountain). Junior Jeff Sciba is slated to take the hill for the Bears in game one, while freshman Nate Steinmetz is penciled in for game two.