By Cody Stark
The Bearkats got off to a solid start in the final Southland Conference series of the regular season Thursday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
Sam Houston State was efficient at the plate, scoring runs in each of the first six innings to cruise past Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi 10-2. Freshman pitcher Sean Weatherford notched his second win in a row and limited the Islanders to four hits in five innings as the Bearkats improved to 17-13 in SLC action and 31-21 overall.
“Every inning we came back and we kept scrapping,” SHSU head coach Mark Johnson said. “We hit some balls hard with the bases loaded and they gave us a few, but on a whole we ended up with 14 hits and I have no complaints.”
Weatherford (7-5) gave up a hit to start the game, then retired the Islanders in order with two of his six strikeouts coming in the frame. That’s when the offense took over.
The Bearkats got a pair of singles from Braeden Riley and Ryan Mooney to start the bottom of the first, then Nick Zaleski walked to load the bases. Jon Reed and Tyler Knight hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to make it 2-0.
Freshman Jordan Bunch doubled to begin the second and scored to make it 3-0 when Adam De La Garza dropped down a bunt single and Islanders third baseman Martin Parra overthrew first.
A&M-Corpus; Christi finally got on the board in the third. Weatherford issued a one-out walk to Jeramie Marek and gave up a double to Jacob Perales to put runners in scoring position. Parra struck out looking, but Stephen Flora hit a two-run single to cut the lead to one.
Weatherford walked the leadoff batter in the fourth and gave up a double and hit a batter in the fifth, but got out of each jam without allowing another run.
The Bearkat bullpen shut it down the rest of the way. Guillaume Duguay, who combined with Weatherford to strike out 22 batters last Friday in a win over Central Arkansas, pitched two perfect innings. Ryan Tepera allowed only one hit in the eighth and Matt Shelton closed out the ninth in order.
“Everybody has been saying that we probably have the best bullpen in the Southland Conference and they showed everybody tonight,” Weatherford said. “We have an awesome bullpen and they come in on a moment’s notice and do their job.”
The Bearkats have been struggling at the plate, but that wasn’t the case Thursday. Sam Houston State totaled 14 hits. De La Garza went 4-for-4 with three RBIs, and Riley, Mooney and Wyatt each had two hits.
Riley’s two singles brought him closer to breaking the Southland Conference record for hits in a season. He now has 98, which is more than Southeastern Louisiana’s Gavin Fingleton (97 in 1999) for third. Riley trails former Bearkats Todd Sebek (101 in 2008) and Keith Stein (103 in 2007).
Sam Houston State answered the Islanders’ two runs with two of its own in the bottom of the third when A&M-Corpus; Christi walked the bases loaded and De La Garza ripped a two-run double to left field.
Wyatt broke the game open in the fourth. Zaleski and Knight singled, then the senior catcher caught a fastball up in the zone from Islanders’ reliever Trevor Foss and sent it zipping over the left-field wall into the Bearkat Softball Complex for a three-run blast.
Sam Houston tacked on a run in the fifth and sixth on a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch.
“We were just trying to score every inning and win every inning,” said Wyatt, who leads the Kats with 11 home runs on the season. “We have been in kind of a slump, sort of, the past couple of games, so it was good for us to come out and play well.”
The Bearkats will send senior Jacob Howard (4-4, 4.78 ERA) to the mound for game two today at 2 p.m.
Bearkat notes
Off the team — Sam Houston State will finish the season and postseason without the services of senior designated hitter Seth Hammock and junior outfielder Justin Keithley. The two were dismissed from the squad following the series at Stephen F. Austin on May 1-2 for multiple violations of team rules.
Keithley started 41 games and was sixth on the team with a .305 batting average and had 32 RBIs. Hammock was batting .279 with four home runs and 27 RBIs in 42 starts.
Southland Conference
Baseball Standings
Southland Overall
W L W L
*Texas State 23 6 37 13
*Southeastern La. 20 10 34 18
*Texas-Arlington 18 12 28 23
*Lamar 18 12 34 19
*Texas-San Antonio 18 12 29 22
*Northwestern State 16 12 24 23
*Sam Houston State 16 13 30 21
*Stephen F. Austin 13 16 22 28
Central Arkansas 10 19 19 27
McNeese State 9 21 20 29
Nicholls State 8 21 18 30
A&M-Corpus; Christi 8 22 17 36
* - Clinched SLC Tournament berth
Friday’s scores
Lamar at Stephen F. Austin
Central Arkansas at Texas-San Antonio
McNeese State at Nicholls State
Texas State at Texas-Arlington
Southeastern Louisiana at Northwestern State
Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi at Sam Houston State
Today’s schedule
Lamar at Stephen F. Austin, 2 p.m.
Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi at Sam Houston State, 2 p.m.
Central Arkansas at Texas-San Antonio, 6 p.m.
McNeese State at Nicholls State, 6 p.m.
Texas State at Texas-Arlington, 6:30 p.m.
Southeastern Louisiana at Northwestern State, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday’s schedule
Lamar at Stephen F. Austin, 1 p.m.
Central Arkansas at Texas-San Antonio, 1 p.m.
Texas State at Texas-Arlington, 1 p.m.
Southeastern Louisiana at Northwestern State, 1 p.m.
Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi at Sam Houston State, 1 p.m.
McNeese State at Nicholls State, 6 p.m.
