Kats wrap up home stand with Baylor, Rice
2/29/2016 7:21:00 PM | Baseball
Sam Houston State baseball concludes its seven-game home stand with a pair of midweek matchups, welcoming Baylor to Don Sanders Stadium on Tuesday and Rice on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. both evenings.
Tickets for both games are currently on sale by visiting GoBearkats.com or calling (936) 294-1729. General admission seats are $6 for Tuesday's game and $8 on Wednesday while reserved seating is available for $8 on Tuesday and $10 on Wednesday.
Faculty and students are free as always with a valid Bearkat OneCard. The first 250 students at Tuesday's game will also receive a free Sam Houston baseball t-shirt sponsored by Gateway at Huntsville.
The Bears (4-3) will be the third straight Big 12 Conference opponent to visit Huntsville, following a midweek matchup against No. 23 Texas Tech and weekend series against Oklahoma. Over the weekend, the Bearkats (3-5) caught fire, sweeping the Sooners with a pair of 4-3 victories and a 7-2 drubbing on Saturday.
In the series, Sam Houston held the Sooners, who entered averaging .300 as a team, to a .168 batting average. Offensively, the Kats have clicked since returning home, led by Matt Broadbent's .455 average during the five games.
Right-handed senior Greg Belton is expected to make his second start against the Bears on Tuesday. In his third career start on Tuesday against UTSA, Belton held the Roadrunners hitless during the first four innings before allowing four hits and five earned runs in the fifth.
Baylor enters The Don at 4-3 under first-year head coach Steve Rodriguez. The Bears swept Stony Brook over the weekend in Waco, tallying 42 runs in three games including 16 in Friday's opener and 20 on Saturday. Junior outfielder Darryn Sheppard leads Baylor in batting average (.481), hits (13), runs scored (9) and doubles (3).
While the Bears entered the midweek owning a 60-41 advantage all-time against the Bearkats, the two squads have split the last five matchups and Sam Houston has taken 2-of-3. The last six games between the two clubs have been decided by two runs or fewer.
A season ago, Baylor claimed a 4-3, 10-inning win in Huntsville before the Kats returned the favor a night later by the same score in Waco. Current players Bryce Johnson, Zach Smith and Spence Ram each finished with a combined two hits against the Bears in 2015.
On Wednesday, the Owls (3-5) make the short trek up to Huntsville. Rice is coming off a difficult weekend at the Shiners Hospital for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park. There, the squad was outscored 19-4, dropping games to Arkansas, TCU and Louisiana.
Sam Houston is 69-59-1 all-time against Rice, with the first meeting coming in 1950. The Bearkats are 6-4 against Rice over the last 10 meetings. The squads split wins against one another a season ago. The Owls claimed a 4-0 victory and Houston and Sam Houston won 11-4 in Huntsville. In the win, Sam Houston first baseman Spence Rahm launched a three-run home run and the Kats tallied 13 hits.
Following Wednesday, Sam Houston embarks on a seven-game road swing, visiting Wichita State for three games this weekend before traveling to Texas on Tuesday and New Orleans for the three-game Southland Conference opener beginning March 11.
