HUNTSVILLE – For eight innings on Friday night, the Sam Houston State baseball team showed all the signs of veteran unit, executing bunts, turning a pair of timely double plays and picking up key hits to build momentum on a 5-0 lead against Northwestern State.
In the ninth, the Demons struck for seven runs on four hits and three walks, including two to plate runners, effectively erasing a five-run deficit to win the series opener 7-5 at Don Sanders Stadium.
“Honestly, I thought that was our most complete, most balanced game of the year up until the ninth inning,” second-year head coach Matt Deggs. “We took down a really good arm, who is one of the better arms in the country. We played a very athletic lineup. A five-run lead in the ninth is all you can ask for.”
After Sam Houston (6-12 overall, 1-3 Southland) took a 1-0 lead in the opening frame on an RBI single from Robie Rojas, his seventh of the season, to plate Bryce Johnson, who extended his reached base streak to 32 games with a bunt single, the squads exchanged zeroes for the next five innings.
Bearkats starter Sam Odom was lights out, tossing seven innings, allowing four hits and no runs while walking two and striking out four. Two NSU (9-8 overall, 3-1 Southland) hits came during an opening frame in which the squad loaded the bases, only to come up empty.
“I thought Sam Odom pitched his heart out like he does every Friday night,” Deggs said. “He definitely deserved better than that. Both of the guys out there at the end are guys we depend on. They have really good arms and they'll be back out. That's the thing about baseball, you're never out of it.”
Sam Houston chased Northwestern State ace Adam Oller in the seventh inning, tacking on three runs on four hits in the frame. Jaxxon Grisham and Lance Miles connected for back-to-back singles. With two outs, Andrew Fregia tripled to left field, scoring both runners. Then, Riley McKnight used a bunt single to score Fregia and give Sam Houston a 4-0 lead.
Oller allowed a season-highs with four earned runs and eight hits during 6 2-3 innings. With NSU's Nathan Aultman in to pitch, the Bearkats tagged the reliever for two hits and a run in the eighth, thanks to consecutive singles from Zach Smith and Rojas, with a later double play plating one.
With the bases loaded in the ninth, consecutive walks scored the Demons first two runs, but reliever Spence Rahm recorded back-to-back outs courtesy of a strikeout and lineout to Andrew Beene at shortstop. The right-hander picked up strikes on the next two hitters but a single from two-hole hitter Bret Underwood plated two and Cort Brinson took a 1-2 pitch over the head of Riley McKnight in right field to score three runs.
Rahm (0-2) was saddled with loss while NSU's third reliever, Jesse Fruge, who pitched a scoreless inning, earned his first win. The Demons Nathan Jones logged his second save, tossing a scoreless ninth inning, needing just 13 pitches.
Rojas's two-for-three performance was his second multi-hit game of the season. Freshman Mac Odom, making his third start, collected his first-career hit, a single to right field in the third inning. McKnight, a fellow first-year player, logged his third-multi hit game, finishing 2-for-4 with an RBI.
The Bearkats and Demons return for the second game of the three-game set on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. with Sam Houston's Heath Donica (1-2, 4.56 ERA) opposing Northwestern State's Chase Hymel (1-2, 3.80 ERA).
“We've got to flush this and get ready to come back out tomorrow,” Deggs said. “It's a crazy game. We'll bounce back tomorrow.”
