Saying Goodbye
4/27/2011 8:36:00 AM | Baseball
It couldn't have been scripted any better.
Sam Houston senior Chris Andreas made sure coach Mark Johnson's swan song at Olsen Field had a storybook ending.
Andreas belted two home runs, including a two-run shot just inside the foul pole down the left-field line to tie the game in the ninth as the Bearkats knocked off sixth-ranked Texas A&M 8-5 in 12 innings Tuesday night.
Pinch hitter Jake Arrington drove in what would prove to be the winning run with a groundout in the top of the 12th. Third baseman Kevin Miller scored an insurance run on a wild pitch and shortstop Braeden Riley's RBI single helped Sam Houston post its third win over a top 25 team this season.
All this came after a special pregame presentation in which Texas A&M unveiled a Mark Johnson jersey with his No. 7 on the right-field fence at Olsen Field. The ceremony recognized what was Johnson's final trip to Aggieland as an active head coach. Johnson, who coached at Texas A&M for 21 years before taking over the Sam Houston baseball program in 2006, is retiring at the end of the 2011 season.
"It was really nice because it was his last game here," Andreas said. "Coach did not give us the win one for the me speech. He told us just to treat it like another ball game, play hard and good things will come our way. Good things definitely came our way tonight."
Johnson was honored with a well-deserved tribute from Texas A&M and the Aggie fans before the game as they paid their respects to the man who guided the program to two College World Seris appearances and won a school record 876 games from 1985 to 2005.
The Bearkats returned the favor by giving the 3,560 fans in attendance something they had seen many times before in the same facility, his team coming out on top.
"It was a good ball game," Johnson said. "The fans were really good to me and I appreciate everything they did tonight. Everything was nice."
The victory over Texas A&M ups Johnson's 26-year victory total to 1,036 wins. In five years at Sam Houston he has led the Bearkats to 150 victories. Sam Houston has won three of the last four Southland Conference post-season tournament championships, advancing to the NCAA baseball regionals in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Johnson and the Bearkats have two more home Southland Conference series and one midweek non-conference game left on the 2011 regular season schedule at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Bearkats play host to Southeastern Louisiana in an important league series beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m. The other two contests in the set will be Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Sam Houston also plays host to Texas Southern Tuesday, May 3, at 6:30 p.m.
Johnson and his family will be honored with a "Mark Johnson Farewell Night" during Sam Houston's final home baseball series of the year with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The three game series starts on Thursday, May 19 and continues with games on Friday, May 20 and Saturday May 21.
The May 21 game at 1 p.m. will be 2011 Bearkat baseball "Senior Day."
Friday night, May 20, will feature the ceremony honoring coach Johnson.
Tickets for all home Sam Houston baseball games are available online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the Sam Houston 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.
