Rematch With Cougars At UH Tuesday
4/27/2015 4:28:00 PM | Baseball
Winners in 10 of their last 12 games, the Sam Houston baseball team takes on the University of Houston Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Cougar Field.
The Bearkats stand 24-21 for the year after taking two of three games in a non-conference series with No. 23 Oklahoma in Norman last weekend. Sam Houston lost in a 3-2 thriller in the opening game Friday, then bounced back to top OU 4-3 in 11 innings on Saturday and 8-5 in Sunday's finale.
Houston brings a 29-15 record into the contest. The Cougars stand 18-5 this year on their home field. Chris Iriatt and Josh Vidales lead UH with batting averages of .323 and .310, respectively.
In the two team's first meeting this year in Huntsville, Houston rallied from 7-3 down to score 14 runs in the top of the eighth inning in a 17-7 victory over the Kats. UH designated hitter Michael Wisz went 4-for-5 in the contest.
First-year head coach Matt Deggs has Sam Houston in the thick of the 2015 Southland Conference race despite from key losses from last year's squad that earned the Bearkats their third consecutive Southland Conference baseball championship. Four seniors were lost to graduation and five juniors departed to play professional baseball from the 2014 team that lost to TCU in the NCAA regional finals in Fort Worth.
Sam Houston stands tied for third place in a tight Southland Conference race with an 13-8 record (.619 winning percentage). Southeastern Louisiana leads the league race with a 17-4 mark (.810). Northwestern State is second in the conference at 16-7 (.696). The Bearkats play host to eighth place Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (10-11) this weekend in Huntsville.
The Bearkats' wins are the latest in several outstanding victories in non-conference play this year. The Kats took 2-of-3 from Wichita State (then ranked #32) to open the season. The Kats defeated Baylor 4-3 in Waco, Rice 11-4 in Huntsville and shut out Texas 5-0 in April 14.
Senior center fielder Colt Atwood now holds three Sam Houston career marks and is shooting for a fourth.
His 226 games played breaks the 28-year mark of 224 games played set by Terry Pirtle in 1984-87. Atwood's 224 starts also is a school mark as is his 931 career at bats. With 282 career hits, Atwood stands 10 away from breaking Braeden Riley's school mark of 291 set in 2008-11.
The Bearkat pitching staff limited Oklahoma to a .183 team batting average in the three games this weekend. Alex Bisacca pitched in relief in the first two contests, holder OU batters hitless for five and two-thirds innings and picking up the win in the second game. Two weeks ago, Bisacca was the starter in Sam Houston's 5-0 victory over Texas in Austin. The senior allowed the Longhorns only one hit in the first four innings. Jordan Church pitched the final five innings to pick up the victory over the Horns.
Jake MacWilliam has the hottest bat currently with an eight-game hitting streak. For the season, he owns a .367 average. Spence Rahm is hitting .318 and Travis Lee owns a .312 hitting mean.
Sam Houston has three more weekend series remaining in the regular season schedule. The Kats face A&M-Corpus Christi, Houston Baptist and Lamar in their final three Southland Conference encounters.
The Bearkats will also play host to Texas A&M in Sam Houston's final non-conference home game of the year on Tuesday, May 12 at Don Sanders Stadium.
