Purcell’s walk-off blast captures sweep, RRAC Tourney berth for No. 10 Jags

Jackson Purcell wasn't looking to end the game.

But the redshirt sophomore ran into a pitch he couldn't pass up and delivered a walk-off solo home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the UHV baseball team to a 4-3 win and series sweep over Huston-Tillotson on Sunday.

It was part of a three-RBI performance for the Moses Lake, Washington, native.

"I was just looking to get something I could hit and hit it hard," Purcell said. "You know, good things happened and I hit the ball hard."

Purcell's third home run of the season was an immediate answer to adversity on Sunday.

The Jaguars (29-7, 17-4) led 3-1 entering the ninth inning, but the Rams (13-24, 8-13) made it 3-2 on a sacrifice fly by Gary Wafford before Daniel Hernandez came around to tie the game on the same play due to UHV's lone error.

It was UHV's first true walk-off of the season after getting a run-rule walk-off in Game 2 of the series on Saturday night.

"He put a good swing on it," said Jonathan Stavinoha of Purcell's home run. "It was a no-doubter to seal the sweep. He's been swinging it well and doing great things. But it's all throughout our lineup. It was just that Jackson's number was called and it couldn't have happened to a better guy."

It was the second go-ahead hit of the day for Purcell after delivering a two-run double in the fourth inning to put UHV up 3-1 at the time. He's now hit safely in each of the last four games and in 10 of the last 12 for the Jaguars.

Hal Perez mashed his team-leading sixth home run in the second inning to tie the game at 1-1.

"The only team that can beat us is ourselves," Purcell. "So, I have all the faith in us that we can get it done day in and day out. We've just got to get hot at the right time and keep trending in the right direction."

Julian Garcia went the distance for his third complete game and sixth win of the season, allowing three runs – two earned – on five hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

The senior from Houston worked to retire 16 batters in a row from the third to the eighth inning.

"The whole game, he had his stuff working and he was mixing guys up well," Stavinoha said. "Having him in that Game 3 spot is really good because he's a student of the game. He studies the other team and knows how to pitch them, and he executes it almost to perfection every time he steps out on the mound."

With the win, the Jaguars secured a spot in May's Red River Athletic Conference tournament. It's the fifth consecutive year UHV will compete for the RRAC Tournament title. But, with UHV trailing conference leader and No. 1 LSU Shreveport by 2.5 games in the RRAC standings, the Jaguars want to make a run at the regular season title.

"It feels great," Purcell said. "You just want to keep on knocking off checkpoints and just keep trending up. And hopefully in May, we're the best team in the country."