STEPHENVILLE, Texas (Interstat) — Houston Christian scored nine runs in the first inning and withstood a late push to defeat Tarleton State 9-5 on Sunday afternoon at Tarleton Baseball Complex.

The Huskies (9-9) sent 13 batters to the plate in the opening frame, highlighted by a grand slam from Walker and a three-run homer from Laxton. Rayner Heinrich homered for the Texans (12-6) in the bottom of the first.

Tarleton State’s bullpen, using six relievers who combined for six scoreless innings, kept the game close. The Texans scored three times in the ninth on RBI hits from Raphael Smeenk, Sergio Guerra and Jake Tatom but could not complete the comeback.