By Gene Schallenberg Huntsville Item Sports

Everything that seemingly could go wrong for the Bearkats did Friday night.

From starting pitching to hitting to fielding, Sam Houston had its share of struggles and couldn't put up much of a fight against McNeese State.

The Bearkats couldn't keep up with the red-hot Cowboys and fell 14-1 at Don Sanders Stadium as the mercy rule came into play in the Southland Conference series opener.

"It was one of those nights. I told the players that we're in a slump, but the only way to get out of it is to just keep playing hard," SHSU head coach Mark Johnson said. "We made mistakes tonight. We didn't pitch well, we didn't hit well and we made a couple of errors and some of them were costly."

The Cowboys, who improved to 9-4 in SLC play after winning their eighth consecutive conference game and 18-11 overall, jumped out to an early lead on back-to-back run-scoring doubles in the top of the second inning.

The Bearkats finally got on the board in the bottom of the frame.

With two outs and a runner on second, third baseman Jessie Plumlee singled to right field to drive in Ryan Mooney. But the inning ended when Plumlee was thrown out at second by Cowboys catcher Jordan Venable.

That's when it started to unravel for the Bearkats (6-7 in SLC play, 13-18).

SHSU starting pitcher Justin Jackson (1-1) ran into trouble in the fourth inning and the Bearkats defense didn't help matters, committing errors that the Cowboys took advantage of.

McNeese State's first batter of the inning reached base safely and got into scoring position thanks to a fielding error by Plumlee.

With Cowboys right fielder Lee Orr on second base, first baseman Bryn Thompson singled to left field. As Orr rounded third, left fielder Tyler Fiebrich threw toward home but the ball got past catcher Doug Oney.

It snowballed from there as McNeese State scored six more runs in the inning. Matt Fontenot, the No. 9 batter, hit a three-run homer. The Cowboys plated a run later in the inning on an RBI single by designated hitter Seth Granger and two more on another Plumlee error.

"They hit the ball well," Mooney said. "You can't take anything away from them. They put the ball in play, they didn't strike out a lot. They hit it hard and found holes."

McNeese State scored four more in the sixth inning to extend their lead to 14-1, which put the mercy rule into play. By the time the Cowboys were finished, they had cranked out 17 hits. 

"It happens," Mooney said. "All the way around, we just didn't play a very good game offensively, defensively, pitching. It was just one of those nights that happens. You've got to put it behind you and look forward to tomorrow."

The Bearkats, though, couldn't match McNeese State's firepower. Cowboys starting pitcher Dustin Lloyd (2-4), who went the distance, held SHSU to just five hits the rest of the way.

The Bearkats got two runners into scoring position but couldn't drive them home.

"(Lloyd) mixed it up pretty well," Mooney said. "He wasn't anything we haven't seen before, but he threw strikes and kept us off balance. We just didn't swing as good as them."

After enjoying a winning streak of seven games, the Bearkats have lost five of their last six, including four straight in conference. Sam Houston looks to quench that streak today when it heads into the second game of the series against McNeese State at 2 p.m.

"As I've told them, I've been run-ruled plenty of times and it doesn't mean that you're run-ruled the next day," Johnson said. "We can't bring tonight's game with us out there tomorrow."