From The Huntsville Item
By Cody Stark
HUNTSVILLE ? Keith Stein hit a two-run walk-off home run to lead Sam Houston State to a 7-5 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Friday to earn the Bearkats their second straight appearance in the Southland Conference post-season baseball tournament.
The Bearkats will play the winner of the Lamar vs. Southeastern Louisiana game in the finals. The Cardinals and the Lions play at 12 noon with the final to follow 45 minutes after the completion of the semifinals.
Sam Houston State (36-23) earned an NCAA playoff berth by winning the Southland tournament last year in Natchitoches, LA. The Bearkats also won the tournament in 1996. Both years the Kats were the No. 4 seed in the event and, this year, Sam Houston also is fourth seed.
Stein, the Bearkats' center fielder, blasted a rocket that sailed over the right-field wall with a runner on in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead Sam Houston to a dramatic 7-5 come-from-behind victory to eliminate Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday night.
“At first when I hit it, I knew we had won the game,” Stein said. “I knew I hit it well enough that they weren't going to get to it. But when I raised my hands I knew I got all of it. I went crazy after that because that was the first walk-off (home run) I have ever hit. It feels great.”
Things looked bleak for the Kats when the Islanders took a 5-2 lead in the top of the eighth off a three-run bomb to left by center fielder Chase Williams, an inning after SHSU third baseman Seth Hammock tied it at 2 with a solo shot.
But with an offense as explosive as Sam's, the Bearkats knew they weren't out of it.
In the bottom of the eighth, Stein got a rally going with a double and scored on a single by Bobby Verbick. After Hammock reached on an error, Ryan Trevino tied it again with a two-run single to center. All three runs came off Islander closer Bryant Sparkman.
Sam Houston reliever Zac Baker pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to set the stage for Stein's heroics, which came at the expense of Islanders reliever Roy Ferdin, who started Corpus' 12-10 win over Texas-San Antonio earlier in the day.
“This is what we came out to do, and when we were in the dugout, we never doubted ourselves,” Stein said. “We knew we could fight back, and we knew that with our bats and the way we could hit, we always have a chance to win.”
Williams' shot almost spoiled another solid outing by a Sam Houston starting pitcher. Having missed the past month with a foot injury, sophomore Ryan Tepera held the Lions to two runs through the first seven innings. The Lake Jackson product struggled with his control and walked five Corpus batters, but he did record eight strikeouts in the no decision.
Tepera turned the ball over to Baker (4-1) with two outs in the eighth, the first time the Kats have had to dip into the bullpen in the tournament.
“I just tried to come out and put our team in a winning spot and keep us in the game,” Tepera said. “I didn't have my best stuff tonight, but I just tried to hang in there and eat up as many innings as I could.”
For the first time in the tournament, the Bearkats fell behind early. Tepera gave up back-to-back one-out singles to Brycen Bell and Jonathan Reyes to get a rally started in the second. Stephen Flora then hit a grounder to SHSU shortstop Ryan Weber, who tagged out Reyes but Bell was able to score to make it 1-0.
The Bearkats weren't down long, tying the game in the bottom half of the inning. Hammock roped a leadoff single to center field and advanced to third on a hit to right by Trevino. Nick Zaleski got Sam Houston on the board with a sacrifice fly that was deep enough to right to plate Hammock.
But just as quickly as the Kats tied it up, the Islanders went back on top in the third. Again, Tepera got into trouble with one out after issuing a walk to Trey Hernandez and giving up a single to Martin Parra.
It looked like the young Sam Houston pitcher would get out of the jam when Ernie Olivarez hit a double-play ball to short, but he beat the throw at first, allowing Hernandez to make it 2-1.
Tepera kept the Islanders off the board the next four innings before hitting a wall in the eighth.
Still, it was the type of performance Sam Houston State needed from Tepera to keep the bullpen fresh heading into today's title game. Dallas Gallant and Guillaume Duguay both turned in back-to-back complete games in the Kats' first two wins, so SHSU has plenty of fresh arms.
“I think the key was that Ryan Tepera gave us a chance,” SHSU head coach Mark Johnson said. “He gave us a yeoman's performance. He hadn't been out there for four weeks and went up there and didn't flinch or buckle and kept us in the game.”
The Bearkats struggled adjusting to Islanders starter Justin Grota. The right-hander only gave up two hits through seven innings. He finally got into trouble in the seventh, surrendering the solo shot to Hammock that tied it at 2. But Williams bailed him out with his three-run shot in the eighth.
The only problem was Sparkman couldn't hold the lead, and the Bearkats lit him up like a pinball machine in the bottom of the eighth, driving in three runs on four hits to chase him out of the game.
