HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats could not hold onto an early lead and dropped the series opener, 8-7, to Lamar on Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Kats (23-18, 13-6 WAC) struck for five runs in the bottom of the first inning against LU (26-16, 12-7 WAC) ace Braxton Douthit, but surrendered seven unanswered runs before tying it up with single runs in both the fifth and seventh innings.
However, Cardinal catcher Ryan Snell led off the ninth with a double and one batter later Josh Blankenship dribbled a single into right field to score what would be the winning run. The Kats had a chance in the ninth as
Carlos Contreras singled with two outs and advanced to second, but LU stopper Jack Dallas was able to get
Walker Janek on strikes to close out his eighth save of the year.
Janek had already played hero earlier in the night, connecting on a solo homer with one out in the seventh off eventual winning pitcher Max Mize to tie things at 7-7. He finished with a pair of hits and two RBI as one of five Kats with multiple hits.
Clayton Chadwick led the Kats with three base hits, and six players finished with at least one run driven in. Five different players had RBI in the 5-run first, and the Kats had golden chances in both the third and fourth innings to add on, but hit into two of their three double plays for the game in those innings.
Matt Dillard made it through 5.0 innings before
Logan Hewitt put up a pair of scoreless relief innings.
Braden Davis then came in and threw 1.1 innings of relief, but suffered his first collegiate loss after allowing the leadoff base runner in the ninth.
The Kats and Cardinals will square off in the second game of the series on Saturday beginning at 3:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
