SAN MARCOS - Head coach Mark Johnson's post-season magic continues as the No. 5 seeded Bearkats run-ruled No. 4 seed Southeastern Louisiana 12-0 in the first round of the Southland Conference baseball tournament Wednesday afternoon at Bobcat Stadium.
The victory extended the longest winning streak in Southland post-season history to 13. During Johnson's first three seasons as the Bearkats' skipper, Sam Houston rolled unbeaten 4-0 through the league tournament to nail down an NCAA regional playoff berth.
SHSU didn't qualify for the tournament last year, but took up right where they left off in 2009 blowing out a Lion squad that took two out of three from the Kats in the pair's regular season series in Huntsville.
“We haven't gotten a ground ball to fall in a couple of weeks, but they all seem to fall for us today,” Johnson said. “That is just baseball and how it goes sometimes.”
Sam Houston (35-22) totaled 18 hits while holding the Lions to just three singles. Right fielder Greg Olson went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and left fielder Luke Plucheck blasted two triples to account for four RBIs.
Senior pitcher Brandon Kimbrel (7-4) chalked up his fourth complete game and third shutout of the season. The 12-0 win was the largest margin of victory for Sam Houston in a Southland tournament contest.
"That was big time
to be able to come out and score runs like that," Kimbrel said. "It makes it easy to pitch when
you get some run support like that. I was nervous coming in and it took a olot
of the burden off. I was able to just calm down and let my defense work for me."
The Bearkats jumped on the Lions early and often, jumping out to a quick lead by scoring in five of the first six innings.
Designated hitter Chris Andreas singled to center field to score second baseman Ryan Mooney in the top of the first inning. Mooney opened the game with a single and moved to second on an error.
Plucheck tripled to right field to bring in two more runs and later scored on a ground out by shortstop Ryan Mooney to give the Kats three runs in the second inning.
Olson singled with one out and two on to score third baseman Kevin Miller in the third. Andreas led off the fifth inning with a solo home run to right field. Olson added another RBI single to put the Kats up 7-0.
The Kats added five more runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Miller, RBI singles by Olson and catcher Doug Oney and another triple by Plucheck.
Kimbrel struck out five batters and the Kat defense produced two double plays to keep the Lions scoreless.
"Brandon Kimbrell
just threw a mnasterful game and it may get lost here," Johnson said. "I was really pleased
with him against a really good ball club."
Tyler Watkins (10-4) was the losing pitcher for Southeastern Louisiana (35-21), surrendering four runs on seven hits in two innings of work.
Four other Bearkats produced multiple hits as Andreas and first baseman Daniel Nottebart both went 3-for-4 and Miller and Riley each posted two hits.
Fourteen of the 18 previous Southland Conference post-season events, a first round winner swept undefeated through the tournament to hold up the trophy. The Bearkats will be attempting to accomplish that feat for the fifth time in school history. When Sam Houston last won the tournament in 2009, the Kats' first round victim was Southeastern Louisiana.
Sam Houston will face No. 8-seed Nichols after the Colonels upset Texas State in the final game of the first round. They are set to begin at 7 p.m.
"This conference has
had so much parity," Johnson said before the start of the Nicholls-Texas State game. "I think every team knows they can play with each other.
Both of those teams have beat us this year, so I am sure they are not going to
be in awe of us and we are feeling good about our game too."
In other first round action Wednesday, No. 6 seed UTSA upset No. 3 seed A&M-Corpus Christi 3-2 in 10 innings and No. 2 seed Stephen F. Austin edged No. 7 seed Lamad 3-2.
Sam Houston's game Thursday night will be broadcast live on the internet on www.gobearkats.com and will be video streamed on www.southland.org .
