HOUSTON ? The Bearkats didn't go down without a fight. Xavier just came up with the big hits in the clutch.
Right fielder Neil Lindgren broke a 6-all tie with a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning off Sam Houston State reliever Matt Shelton as the Musketeers eliminated the Bearkats from the NCAA's Houston Regional with a 9-6 victory on Saturday at Reckling Park.
Sam Houston State (36-24), which had a knack for coming from behind to win games this season, tied the game at 6 in the top of the seventh. Shortstop Jon Reed walked with two outs and moved to second on a balk by Xavier reliever Jordan Conley.
The balk was costly because it came on what would have been strike three on Sam Houston catcher Mark Wyatt and would have ended the inning. Wyatt took advantage of the second chance and ripped a single through the left side of the infield to bring Reed home from second.
But the Musketeers (39-20) answered with Lindgren's blast to left field and added an insurance run in the eighth to seal it.
“I think we had something like 28 come-from-behind wins in our 54-game season,” Bearkats head coach Mark Johnson said. “We have come from behind a whole bunch so our guys believe that. I have hope every time we get out there, particularly when we get a man on base. We didn't do as well with men in scoring position in these two ballgames during this regional.”
Sam Houston State, which lost to Rice 5-2 on Friday night, got off to another quick start, scoring two runs in the first off Xavier starter Danny Rosenbaum. After senior Nick Zaleski walked, Reed singled in third baseman Ryan Mooney, who reached on a throwing error and stole third base. Right fielder Tyler Knight pushed the lead to 2-0 with a single down the right-field line.
Bearkats starter Brent Powers sat the Musketeers down in order in the bottom of the frame, but ran into his first trouble of the day in the second. With one out, he gave up a single to Conley, then served up a two-run blast to designated hitter Bobby Freking that knotted the game at 2.
That ignited the Xavier offense. The Musketeers scored four runs in the third off Powers to go up 6-2 thanks to a pair of RBI doubles and a fielding error on Bearkat second baseman Braeden Riley, who dropped the ball while trying to turn a double play.
“(Freking's home run) really picked us up,” Xavier head coach Scott Googins said. “We were down 2-0, kind of scuffling a little bit. There was a lot of confidence in our dugout, but we were still looking around like what's happening here, why are we sputtering? Then Bobby really picked up with that home run to tie the game up, and we started rolling.”
The Bearkats finally clawed back in the game with three runs in the fourth. Knight, who went 3-for-4, led off with a single and scored on another single by Riley. Sam Houston got another run back on a fielding error by Conley at short, then Johnson dug into his bag of tricks.
With Riley on third and Mooney on first, the coach called for a double steal. Mooney pretended to trip and Rosenbaum bit on the play. The pitcher made a move to get Mooney in a rundown and turned his back long enough to allow Riley to steal home and cut the lead to 6-5.
Even though Sam Houston scratched out 10 hits, the Bearkats still didn't look comfortable at the plate as the Musketeer pitchers peppered them with numerous breaking balls. Rosenbaum finished with nine strikeouts, before giving way to Conley with two outs in the seventh.
Conley pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings, recording three strikeouts to close the door on the Kats.
“The starter did a great job,” said Zaleski, who went 2-for-4. “He mixed speeds well, threw pitches in and out and hit his spots on both sides. He just kept us off-balance the whole game. We got a few key hits when we needed it and got the ball in play when we needed it. We just didn't have enough today, not enough big hits.”
While Powers and Shelton struggled on the mound, senior Will Skelton was the reason Sam Houston had a chance to win. He came in and got two quick outs to help the Kats escape the dismal four-run third.
Skelton kept the Musketeers off the board in the fifth and sixth before leaving in the eighth after walking the leadoff batter. But the walk proved to be the winning run. Shelton, the hero of the Southland Conference tournament, gave up Lindgren's blast and Skelton (2-3) took the loss.
“Today we had to win to keep playing and that was my mind-set coming in,” Skelton said. “I knew with our offense, as long as I'd keep them at bay, the score when I came in was not going to be the final score. Two innings after I came in, we put up all those runs like usual.”
Regional notes
Extending the record ? Sam Houston second baseman Braeden Riley went 2-for-5 Saturday to push his Southland Conference single-season hit record to 110. Even though his season is over, as of Saturday, Riley was still leading the nation in hits.
Almost the fourth ? Bearkats senior Nick Zaleski almost became the fourth player in Southland Conference history to collect 100 hits in a single season. He had two hits ? a double and single ? Saturday to finish with 99. Sam Houston State's Braeden Riley (110), Keith Stein (103) and Todd Sebek (101) are the only ones who have done it.
Zaleski did, however, become the fourth Bearkat to finish the season with a batting average of .400 or better. He capped his four-year Sam Houston State career by hitting .419, the highest mark in school history since the Kats moved up to the Division I level.
