HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats scored early and often, taking down No. 20 Texas State, 12-9, on Tuesday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
It was the Kats' (15-10) second top-25 win of the season and came on the strength of eight runs in the first three innings. Sam Houston pounded out 16 hits against Bobcat (20-6) pitching with seven players picking up multi-hit games.
Myles Jefferson was one of those Bearkats, finishing 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored a 2-run homer in the sixth inning that capped the scoring for SHSU.
Lane Brewster also had a pair of hits and a pair of RBI, in addition to a stellar grab in right field in the eighth inning.
Easton Loyd delivered three singles and
Clayton Chadwick had a pair of hits and two RBI, while
Luke Repka and
Walker Janek each had a pair of hits.
Coltin Atkinson got the win after a predetermined 2.0-inning outing, striking out three hitters after allowing a pair of runs in the first inning.
Matt Rudis followed with a strong 3.0 innings of relief that included two punchouts and just one run allowed before
Gavi Coldiron,
Alex Havlicek and
Lance Lusk took it the remainder of the way.
Texas State had taken an early 2-0 lead with those first-inning runs, but after the Kats got one back in the bottom half of the inning, they erupted for four more runs in the bottom of the second off of Bobcat starter Trevis Sundgren and reliever Carson Kiethly. It was a 2-run double from Brewster that put the Kats up 3-2 and one batter later the lead built to 5-2 on a 2-run single by Chadwick.
An inning later Jefferson and
Walker Janek added RBI singles in a 3-run frame that upped the lead to 8-2.
Rudis then kept the lead at a comfortable margin, despite allowing a solo homer to John Wuthrich to lead off the fourth, and the Kats rewarded him with four more scores in the sixth against reliever Otto Wofford.
Carlos Contreras got it started with an RBI double, upping his NCAA-best total to 48 for the year, and one batter Loyd got in on the action with an RBI single of his own.
But one batter later Jefferson delivered the offense's final blow, blasting his first home run as a a Bearkat out to left field to give the Kats a commanding 12-4 lead with three frames left to play.
Texas State was then able to take advantage of some shaky defense in the eighth and ninth innings, scoring five times – three unearned – to make it interesting. That included the final inning when the only error of the game by Sam Houston extended the game and allowed Isaiah Ortega-Jones to deliver a 2-run single to cut the lead to 12-9 and get the tying run to the plate.
However, Lusk was able to record his third strikeout of the inning, this time of leadoff man Ben McClain, to close out the game.
The Kats will return to WAC play on Friday when it opens up a 3-game series with UTRGV with first pitch set for 6:30 pm. Each of the first two games of the series will be aired on ESPN+.
