Designated hitter Hayden Simerly batted in two runs to lead Sam Houston to a 3-2 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the opening contest of a three-game Southland Conference weekend series Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium.

Pitchers Andrew Godail and Alex Bisacca limited A&M-Corpus Christi to five hits.

Godail (3-5) spread four hits over seven and two-thirds innings. He struck out 10 of the 30 batters he faced. Bisacca picked up his second save of the season, getting the final four outs, three of which were strike outs.

"Friday night games should always be a pitching duel and that's exactly what it was tonight," Godail said. "That's what it's been like this whole year. Our hitters usually come out on top."

Simerly, shortstop Miles Manning and right fielder Travis Lee each posted two hits. Sam Houston totaled eight hits as a team. Second baseman Jake MacWilliam kept his hitting streak alive at 10, going 1-for-3 in the contest.

The victory upped Sam Houston to 25-22 for the year and 14-8 in Southland Conference play. The Islanders fell to 20-22 overall and 10-12 in the league.

A Bearkat team that has played 15 of its last 19 contests on the road was excited to return home to Don Sanders Stadium where a crowd of 1,064 watched Friday.

"It was a fun environment," Godail said. "My game lan is always to throw strikes and attack the hitters. When I just attack, good things happen like they did tonight."

Sam Houston struck quickly, scoring a run in each of the first two innings. Right fielder Travis Lee singled to lead off the bottom of the opening frame. Lee was bunted to second by Colt Atwood and scored on a single to center field by designate hitter Hayden Simerly.

Shortstop Miles Manning singled to right field to score Bryce Johnson who doubled to give Sam Houston a 2-0 lead. The Kats left two runners stranded in both the fourth and fifth innings as both squads put zeros on the board for the next four innings.

Lee led off the bottom of the seventh with a double down the right field line. Simerly again brought in the run, this time with a shot up the middle to give Sam Houston a 3-0 lead.

Kyle Danford singled to score two runs with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. Alex Bisacca, who replaced Godail with runners on second and third, ended the inning with a strike out with Sam Houston leading 3-2.

Sam Houston and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will play the second game of the series at 3 p.m. Saturday.