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

Castilleja went 3 for 4 with three RBIs, including the solo shot that completed a Huskies comeback from a 5-2 deficit. He also drove in two runs with a first-inning single. Joshua Caravalho tossed five innings, allowing four hits and no earned runs with two strikeouts. Houston Christian improved to 24-28, while Nicholls State dropped to 21-26.

The Colonels surged ahead in the second inning on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Tyler Artigues. They added a run in the third on an Artigues single and another in the fourth on a Shafer single aided by an error. Jake Curtis walked with the bases loaded in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-4, then singled in the seventh to tie the game.

Nicholls State relievers Karson Trichel, Dalton Hill and Eli Waters combined for 7.2 innings, but each allowed at least one run. David Lopez gave up one run in 2.2 innings for the Huskies. Ben Norton and Brock Lambert also pitched scoreless relief. The win avenged a series loss to the Colonels earlier this season.