Lake Charles, La. - Senior shortstop Braeden Riley went 4-for-5 at the plate with 2 RBIs to power Sam Houston past McNeese State 11-5 Sunday afternoon at Cowboy Diamond.
The win gave the Kats a series victory over the Cowboys, upping Sam Houston to 22-12 for the season and 8-7 in Southland Conference action.
Riley came into the weekend series with the Cowboys in a slump with only two hits in the last six games.
But the Woodville product went 7-for-13 in the McNeese series. The performance ups his career hit total to 262. That moves Riley within 10 hits of passing Terry Pirtle to become Sam Houston's all-time total hits leader. Pirtle produced 271 career hits from 1984 to 1987.
A Bearkat freshman came through on the mound for Sam Houston. Huntsville product Caleb Smith replaced starter Brent Powers in the second inning, giving up four hits in the final seven innings and striking out seven Cowboys to go to 3-0 for the year.
McNeese jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. But a two-run single by third baseman Kevin Miller and an RBI single by Riley in the third gave SHSU a 3-2 lead.
Designated hitter Chris Andreas and Riley each had RBI singles in the sixth, but the Cowboys rallied for three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game 5-5.
Center fielder Mark Hudson, who went 2-for-4 on the day, put the Bearkats ahead to stay with a three-run double in the seventh inning.
Sam Houston returns home to play host to the University of Houston Cougars Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Don Sanders Stadium. The Bearkats will host Lamar in a three-game Southland series at the Don with the first game Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets to all Sam Houston home games are available online now at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the SHSU athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
