Justin Keithley went 2-for-4 including a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning for the go-ahead run as Sam Houston State defeated Texas-Arlington 7-5 in a Southland Conference baseball game Saturday night at Don Sanders Stadium.

Ryan Tepera (1-1) was the winning pitcher in relief for the Kats, allowing three hits in the final three and a third innings and striking out four. Dallas Gallant threw the first five and two thirds innings, giving up seven hits while striking out five.

The Bearkats built a 3-0 lead with two runs in the first inning on a RBI single by Seth Hammock and an error and another tally in the fourth as Nick Zaleski had a run-scoring single.

UTA took the lead with a five-run sixth that featured an inside-the-park three run homer by Jeff Storms after Keithley dove for a shot to center field and missed.

Ryan Mooney cut the lead to 5-4 with an RBI single then Keithley singled in Tyler Lundy and Heath Pugh to put the Bearkats back in front. Mooney added an insurance run with an RBI single in the eighth.

Ryan Martin (0-1) took the loss for the Mavericks.

Sam Houston (9-4, SLC 2-0) picked up its second win of the series over UTA (5-7, SLC 0-2). The pair will meet in the series' third and final game Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

LINE SCORE

Sam Houston St 7, Texas-Arlington 5 (Mar 07, 2009 at Huntsville, TX)

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Texas-Arlington..... 000 005 000  -  5 10  2      (5-7, 0-2)

Sam Houston St...... 200 103 01X  -  7 14  0      (9-4, 2-0)

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Pitchers: Texas-Arlington - Long, Nathan; Martin, Ryan(6); Boydston, Adam(8). Sam Houston St -

Gallant, Dallas; Tepera, Ryan(6).

Win-Tepera, Ryan(1-1)  Loss-Martin, Ryan(0-1)  T-2:38  A-350

HR UTA - Storms, Jeff.

Martin, R. faced 3 batters in the 8th.