Locked in a pitchers' duel through most of Sunday's game, the Bearkats had a golden opportunity to eke out a win and take the series against UT-Arlington.
With the would-be game-winning run on third base in the bottom of the ninth, a base hit or a deep fly ball would've done the trick.
However, a botched squeeze play ultimately did the Kats in. The Mavericks survived the scoring threat and took Sam Houston to extra innings, then defeated the Bearkats 4-2 in 10 innings in the series finale.
"I dislike losing," Sam Houston center fielder Mark Hudson said. "We work too hard to lose. We just need to forget about it and get ready for the next one."
Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Bearkats (1-2 in Southland play, 12-4 overall) hadn't posed much of a threat on the bases, getting just one baserunner into scoring position since the second inning.
Sam Houston was on the verge of walking off with a victory after Hudson advanced from first base to third after a failed pickoff attempt.
After shortstop Braeden Riley was intentionally walked, the Kats attempted to bring Hudson home on a suicide squeeze play with just one out on the board. Since the pitch was low and away, third baseman Kevin Miller couldn't get contact on the ball and Hudson was caught in no man's land.
Hudson hustled back and forth between home and third and nearly got back to his original base, but he went too far out of the basepath and the umpire immediately called him out.
A few moments later, at the urging of UTA head coach Darin Thomas, the first base umpire ruled that Miller, who had two strikes against him, intended to bunt, meaning it was strike three and the inning was over.
"We had a suicide on, so I was running from third base. The bunter has to get the ball down, but it was a low pitch," Hudson said. "It was at his toes. He didn't even have a chance at bunting, so he pulled back. I'm dead meat so I started coming back and had to get in the hot box so (Riley) could get into scoring position to give us a chance to still score.
"They ended up calling (Miller) out, saying that he was still squared around, which he wasn't."
In the top of the 10th, the Mavericks (2-1, 8-7) broke the deadlock, scoring on a fielding error and a sacrifice fly by second baseman Ryan Walker.
Sam Houston had another chance in the bottom of the inning. The Bearkats' first two batters recorded outs, but pinch hitter Kyle Singleton singled to right and outfielder Greg Olson drew a walk to put the tying run on base. The Kats couldn't bring the game square as second baseman Ryan Mooney struck out to end the game.
"We gave them a chance to hit again," SHSU head coach Mark Johnson said. "We could've walked off and they wouldn't have had a chance to score two more runs."
The Mavericks got off to a solid start, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning. Sam Houston countered, though, scoring on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Chris Andreas in the first and a solo home run by first baseman Daniel Nottebart in the second.
From the end of the first inning until he recorded the final out of the eighth, Kats starting pitcher Brandon Kimbrel was on a roll. At one point, the senior right-hander sat down 14 batters in a row before Walker singled in the fifth.
"I thought Brandon threw a heck of a ball game," Johnson said. "He had the slider, threw the fastball and located it well. I thought he pitched very well. He kept us in the ball game and gave us a chance to win."
It wasn't just in the ninth inning that they squandered scoring opportunities, but throughout the game the Bearkats couldn't convert once they got aboard the bases.
"We had too good of a start from Brandon Kimbrel because he was throwing those guys off-balance to not score enough runs to win," Hudson said.
Looking to snap their two-game skid, the Bearkats will hit the road and take on Houston on Tuesday before traveling to San Marcos for a three-game series against Texas State next weekend.
"It's definitely not a sprint, it's a marathon," Hudson added. "We just have to go after our next opponent and play Bearkat baseball."
Next action for the Bearkat baseball team will be a non-conference contest at the University of Houston Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. Sam Houston's next Southland series will be at Texas State in San Marcos Friday through Sunday, March 18-20.
The next home appearance at Don Sanders Stadium for SHSU will be a pair of non-conference games with Houston Baptist and Prairie View A&M on Tuesday, March 22 and Wednesday, March 23, respectively. Both games will start at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets for all Sam Houston home athletic events are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the SHSU athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bower Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
