HUNTSVILLE -- Catcher Collin Yelich smoked a tenth-inning RBI-single to center field to give Sam Houston State a 3-2 walk-off win over New Orleans. The win sealed the Southland-opening series sweep of the Privateers.
The hit was Yelich's second of the game and his third of the day. The junior backstop caught both games of Saturday's doubleheader.
Starting pitcher Sam Odom allowed a hit to lead off the ballgame but then retired the next 15 batters he faced. Odom was perfect in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings with five strikeouts. The streak was snapped with a single to lead off the top of the sixth.
“Any time your starting pitcher gives up two runs in a game, good things are going to happen,” Bearkat head coach Matt Deggs said. “I thought we competed well at the plate. We made the routine plays defensively and mixed in a few great plays as well.”
Center fielder Colt Atwood singled to start the bottom of the first and second baseman Zach Smith followed with a walk. Right fielder Travis Lee was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Atwood was thrown out at the plate when left fielder Hayden Simerly hit into a fielder's choice ground out.
The next batter Dylan Ebbs had a little more luck than Simerly. The Bearkats' designated hitter drove in Smith from third base with a fielder's choice ground out to second base. First baseman Spence Rahm walked to reload the bases but the Kats left them loaded.
In the third inning Lee was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game and moved to second on a ground out. Ebbs doubled the Bearkat lead with an RBI-single to right field to plate Lee.
The sophomore designated hitter was 3-for-5 with two RBI and one run scored. Atwood and Smith also had multiple hits in the ballgame.
Odom entered the ninth inning having allowed just four hits and no walks. The sophomore right-hander had thrown only 71 pitches through eight frames but couldn't hold it together in the ninth. The Privateers got a lead-off single and two walks to load the bases before first baseman Preston Marsh delivered a game-tying single into center field.
The Bearkats had a great opportunity to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth inning when they got two runners on base with one out but couldn't get a run across.
With one out in the tenth Ebbs lined a single up the middle to start the rally. First baseman Spence Rahm absolutely crushed a ball to left field that narrowly missed getting out of the ballpark but hit off the wall for a double. Yelich was the next batter and provided the game-winning hit.
Sam Houston will host nationally-ranked Houston Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Don Sanders Stadium. The Bearkats and Cougars split the home-and-home series last season, winning on each other's home field.
