Nacogdoches - Led by second baseman Ryan Mooney who went 3-for-5 at the plate, Sam Houston rolled up a season best 17 hits as the Bearkats defeated Stephen F. Austin a 7-3 loss Saturday afternoon.
The victory upped Sam Houston to 32-17 for the season and set up the possibility of a series sweep over the Lumberjacks when the pair meet for the third and final game of the set Sunday at 1 p.m.
Six Bearkats - Braeden Riley, Chris Andreas, John Hale, Greg Olson, Daniel Nottebart and Kevin Miller - totaled two hits apiece in the win that puts Sam Houston 15-11 in Southland action.
Hale started the hitting spree with a single to left field in the second inning. The catcher later scored on a ground out by Luke Plucheck.
Hale's two-out single scored two runs in the third inning. Mooney brought in a run with a double down the left field line to start a three-run seventh for the Kats. Andreas singled to score the second run and Plucheck again brought in a score with a ground out.
Miller added the final RBI with a single in the eighth.
Matt Shelton (7-1) was the winning pitcher, spreading five SFA hits over five and two thirds innings. Shelton struck out four batters.
Michael Burchett picked up his seventh save of the season, working the final three and two thirds innings.
Following Sunday's final game of the series, the Bearkats will take time off for finals then head on the road again for a three-game series at Central Arkansas next weekend.
The Bearkats will play their final regular season series at home with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Thursday, May 19 through Saturday May 21. The series marks Mark Johnson's final appearance at Don Sanders Stadium as Bearkat head coach. The 44th head coach to win more than 1,000 games at the NCAA Division I level will retire at the end of the 2011 season.
Johnson will be honored in special pregame ceremonies on Friday, May 20.
