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HBU baseball team passes most important test

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Houston Baptist celebrates its Southland Conference championship.
Houston Baptist celebrates its Southland Conference championship.Erik Williams

Final exams can be taxing for any college student. For Houston Baptist baseball players, however, they had an especially crushing feeling.

The Huskies were headed for a solid seeding in the Southland Conference tournament when it came time to study for and take finals. Because so many of the players depend on academic scholarships to pay for their tuition, they lost focus on baseball and fell into a tailspin on the field.

Luckily for the Huskies, they found their footing and rebounded to play their best baseball when it mattered most.

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Now they're ready for the test they have been hoping to get all season: the NCAA tournament.

Despite entering as the No. 7 seed, HBU won all four games in the Southland tournament to clinch the league's automatic NCAA bid. The Huskies, who are in the NCAA tournament for the first time, are the No. 4 seed in the regional hosted by the University of Houston and will play the Cougars at 7 p.m. Friday. The other two teams are Rice and Louisiana-Lafayette.

The Huskies (28-25) will not have to worry about the classroom this weekend, which is a big reason they found their best form of the season just in time. Before their final weekend series, they lost nine out of 10 games, including seven consecutive league games.

"After finals, it was a big relief," said senior pitcher and third baseman Curtis Jones, who was named the SLC tournament's Most Valuable Player. "Everybody came to the field and enjoyed being around the game of baseball. Everybody got back on the same page and clicked at the right time."

Jones was one of four HBU pitchers to throw complete games in the SLC tournament. He also pitched seven innings and had an RBI en route to earning the win in a 2-1 victory over UH on March 3.

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HBU coach Jared Moon said that while that victory is a big deal, his Huskies did not have to face one of the Cougars' top pitchers, so he expects Friday's task to be taller than the one they faced in March.

HBU senior catcher Samm Wiggins said the team will not be nervous. Many of HBU's players have played with the UH and Rice players in Little League, high school and select ball.

"We've played with them most of them our whole lives," Wiggins said. "We have a lot of confidence. If we play our game, I think we can win a regional and keep on moving."

Win or lose, HBU has taken a major step. The Huskies are in their second year in the Southland and already are representing it in the postseason.

Like many other teams that learn their postseason draws by watching the NCAA selection show on television, the Huskies gathered in one place Monday morning to learn their draw for the tournament.

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When it was revealed they were staying in town for their first NCAA tournament, they cheered loudly and realized they had arrived on the biggest stage of their lives.

"From day one, this is your goal," Jones said. "You want to win games and then get to the regional. That's where the road to Omaha starts."

Corey Roepken is a freelance writer.

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