Mark Wyatt hit a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11^th inning for an 8-6 victory over UTSA in the second round of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament at Whataburger Field on Thursday night. The win was a Southland Conference record 10^th consecutive tournament win for the Bearkats. The Kats will now face the winner of Southeastern Louisiana and UTSA who will play each other at 9 a.m. on Friday.

“We play well in the tournament,” SHSU head coach Mark Johnson said. “I told the guys tonight that it is the ultimate fun when we play as hard as we played and put our heart on the line. The whole game was fun, and I told them I would have said that whether we won or lost.”

Nick Zaleski led off the 11^th with his fourth hit of the game. After a failed sacrifice attempt by Jon Reed, Wyatt stepped to the plate. He worked his way to a 3-1 count, and fouled back a pitch to force a full count. On the next pitch, Wyatt hit a no-doubter out to left to move the Kats into the semifinals.

“Early in the count, he was throwing some cutters. He threw me a few fastballs and I started thinking that maybe he was just going to come at me with fastballs from then on,” Wyatt said. “I had the 3-1 pitch that I was sitting on and I just missed it. I figured he was going to come back again with a fastball because he didn't want to walk me and move the winning run to second base. I just tried to put the sweet part of the bat on the ball.”

The game featured no shortage of dramatic moments for the Bearkats. After falling behind for the first time in the sixth inning on a two-run homer by Michael Rocket, the Kats wasted no time getting right back on top. Tyler Knight turned on a pitch for a two-run shot to left to put the Kats back up 4-3.

UTSA responded with three runs in the top of the 8^th inning to go back up on top 6-4 off SHSU relief pitcher Guillaume Duguay. Matt Shelton entered the ball game and recorded a strikeout and a fly out to keep the deficit at two.

Trailing 8-6 in the bottom of the 8^th, the Kats answered right back. Knight reached on a throwing error to lead off the frame and Daniel Nottebart followed with a single. Johnson then decided to go to the bench and pinch run for Nottebart with Peter Goudeau. It worked to perfection for the Kats as two batters later, Adam DeLaGarza ripped a ball down the first-base line bringing home both runners to tie the game back up at six.

“We all believe that we can play with anybody, there is nobody that we are scared of,” Wyatt said. “There are a lot of good teams in this tournament; I just feel that we match up real well against all of them.”

Shelton stayed in to pitch the final three innings without allowing a hit to pick up his sixth win of the season. His only mistake was hitting Lance Brown to lead off the 11^th, but after a sacrifice bunt, he fanned Brett Aguilar and got a groundout by Gilbert Saenz to leave Brown stranded.

“I came in and felt like I was going to shut them down and we would win it that inning,” Shelton said. “As the game went on and we kept getting runners on, I thought that was the inning and I wouldn't have to go back out there. Finally, we got it done in the 11th and I was really happy.”

The late game heroics overshadowed a good starting performance by Bearkat lefty Brent Powers. He worked the first six innings allowing just five hits and three runs, striking out five while walking just two.

“Brent Powers pitched the best I have seen him throw,” Johnson said. “He started getting his changeup in during the fifth and doing some things well.  I really hated to take him out of the ball game.”