Twice on Sunday, the Bearkats trailed late by a handful of runs and needed to come up with some offense in a hurry.
The Kats found a way, rallying to beat Nebraska 10-9 on a walk-off single and clawing back from a five-run deficit in the ninth to defeat Northern Colorado 12-11 in 11 innings.
The two come-from-behind victories completed a perfect weekend for Sam Houston, which swept the Bearkat Baseball Tournament with four wins in three days.
"It was our first doubleheader. We came out and had batting practice and stretched at 7:45 this morning, so we've been out here a while," Sam Houston head coach Mark Johnson said. "Nonetheless, that was the challenge today and so I thought we met it. We kept trying to scrap back.
"I take my hat off to the teams that were here. They're both good ballclubs. I thought we had a great weekend. It was a really good weekend for us. I was pleased."
In Sunday's final game, the Bearkats, which improved to 5-2, trailed Northern Colorado 11-6 and had just three outs to make up the five-run difference.
"All season, it just feels like nobody can keep us down for too long," Kats catcher Doug Oney said. "We've got a lot of good at-bats. Guys have been taking good approaches to the plate and it seems to be working for us real well and everyone's excited to be out here."
With back-to-back walks to open the ninth inning, center fielder Mark Hudson sent the ball into the right-field corner to bring home a pair of runs and cut the deficit to three.
After two straight strikeouts, second baseman Jesse Plumlee's high-flying pop fell just in front of Bears catcher Harrison Lambert to put the tying run at the plate.
Battling through a series of pitches with an 0-2 count, Oney sent the ball flying over the left-field wall for a three-run homer to knot the game back up.
"I was trying to fight with two strikes. I had another bad swing and fouled one off," Oney said of his game-tying at-bat. "I said that I'm not going to do it again and I'm going to wait and let the ball travel this time. I got my swing off and it worked out well."
In the 11th inning, Sam Houston right fielder Greg Olson drew a one-out walk. Olson then stole second, the 11th stolen base of the game for the Kats, to get into scoring position.
A few pitches later, designated hitter Tyler Jones gave the Bearkats' their first lead since the second inning when he singled up the middle to drive in the go-ahead run.
"We didn't want to leave the game tied for too long," Jones said. "Basically, (hitting) coach (Jim) Blair told us to take a strike and then just battle and put it the other way or up the middle."
In the bottom half of the inning, pinch hitter Ben Packard singled to lead off the inning, but Northern Colorado's threat was short-lived as third baseman Tony Crudo grounded into a double play and Lambert grounded out to third, clinching the comeback victory for the Kats.
In the earlier game on Sunday, the Kats had another offensive battle on their hands.
The Cornhuskers (5-3) hadn't produced much early in the game, totaling just two hits through the first 4 2/3 innings. Then in the middle innings, Nebraska started to string hits together and scored five runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh to take a 7-4 lead.
The Kats responded with a five-run sixth, powered by first baseman Chris Andreas' key grand slam that suddenly gave SHSU a two-run advantage.
"It was huge," Andreas said. "Give credit to the guys who got on base in front of me. It's always big late in the ball game when you get a big hit and we got it at the right time."
With runners on the corners and two outs in the final inning, it appeared as if the Kats would be able to hold on for a slim 9-8 win as right fielder Josh Scheffert hit a grounder to shortstop Braeden Riley. But Riley bobbled the ball and the tying run scored.
The senior made up for his gaffe and doubled with two outs, which set up senior Daniel Nottebart to knock in the game-winning run.
Nottebart hit the ball to left field and Kash Kalkowski couldn't field it, allowing game-winning run to score.
"I know Braeden had an error in the ninth that opened the door, but Braeden was also the guy that got the double and got on second base for the winning run," Johnson said.
"That's pretty good when you make an error that looks like it could cost you the ball game and then you have enough to go up to the plate and get a double."
The Bearkats welcome Michigan and Massachusetts as they host another tournament, beginning on Friday on the final weekend before beginning Southland Conference play.
"I think we've got good momentum already. We've good strength going into this weekend," Jones said.
"Hopefully all of our hard work pays off and I think it is right now. I think we have a lot to show and I think we're going to bring it every game."
