HAMMOND, La. (Interstat) — Levi Castilleja crushed a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday afternoon at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field, lifting Houston Christian to a 6-5 Southland victory over Nicholls State.

The Huskies trailed 5-4 entering the seventh but tied the game on a Curtis RBI single. After both teams went scoreless in the eighth, Castilleja stepped in with two outs in the ninth and launched his fourth homer of the season to left field, scoring the winning run and ending the contest.

Joshua Caravalho earned top star honors for Houston Christian. The right-hander tossed five innings of relief, allowing four hits and no earned runs while striking out two. He entered in the third inning with the Colonels leading 5-3 and held them scoreless through the seventh. Caravalho’s outing followed a rough stretch — he had allowed three earned runs in 2 2/3 innings against Lamar on May 9 and one earned run in two innings at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on May 3.

Castilleja finished 3 for 4 with three RBIs. His two-run single in the first inning put the Huskies on the board after Nicholls State had jumped ahead 5-0. He later scored on a wild pitch in the second and was hit by a pitch in the fifth before Curtis drove him in.

Nicholls State built its lead quickly. In the top of the first, Artigues struck out but RijoBerger singled, Thompson singled, and Giger walked. Shafer fouled out, but the Colonels already had two on. In the second, a fielding error by third baseman Rader put Milam on base. Milam stole second, and Terry walked. A balk moved both runners into scoring position, and a wild pitch scored Milam. Terry came home on Artigues’ sacrifice fly. Later, Giger reached on an error in the third, stole second, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a fielder’s choice. Ingersoll and Artigues added RBI singles that inning to make it 5-0.

Houston Christian answered in the bottom of the first. Halligan walked, Walker walked, and Avalos walked to load the bases. Castilleja singled to center, driving in Halligan and Walker. In the second, Laxton walked, and Bard’s single moved him to third. Halligan grounded out to short, scoring Laxton, cutting the deficit to 5-3.

The Huskies chipped away again in the fifth. Walker singled, and after Castilleja was hit by a pitch, a walk to Hendricks loaded the bases. Curtis walked to force in Walker, making it 5-4. The Colonels escaped further damage when Laxton hit into a fielder’s choice that cut down Castilleja at the plate.

Nicholls State’s pitching staff worked through several changes. Starter Richard was replaced by Karson Trichel after one inning. Trichel threw 3 1/3 innings, allowing no hits but two earned runs with two strikeouts. Cole Poirrier entered in the fifth but faced one batter without recording an out; Dalton Hill followed, giving up one earned run in 2 2/3 innings. Eli Waters pitched the eighth and ninth, allowing one hit and one earned run while striking out two.

For Houston Christian, David Lopez started and went 2 2/3 innings, surrendering two hits and one earned run with two strikeouts. Caravalho took over in the third. Caleb Matthews threw 2/3 of an inning, allowing one hit. Brock Lambert worked 2/3 of an inning, giving up one hit. Ben Norton closed the ninth with 2/3 scoreless innings.

The game featured eight hits for Nicholls State and nine for Houston Christian. The Colonels fell to 21-26 overall, while the Huskies improved to 24-28.

Nicholls State had lost 11-3 to McNeese State the previous day and had dropped three of its last four. Houston Christian came in off a 3-2 loss at Southeastern Louisiana. The teams had split a three-game series in early April, with Nicholls State winning the first two games 11-1 and 10-6 before Houston Christian took the finale 3-0.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Houston Christian 5, Nicholls State 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Colonels a 57.80 percent probability to win.