CORPUS CHRISTI – The Sam Houston State baseball team spent its Mother's Day away from home, but that did not mean right-handed starter Riley Gossett did not give his mother, who was in attendance, a present to remember.
The freshman posted a strong outing and the offense backed its pitching to give Sam Houston a 5-3 win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The win was the 18th in the last 20 Southland Conference games and marked the seventh-straight league series victory.
“On the road, it's hard to get her a gift so I said I'm going to go out there and get you a win,” Gossett said. “I went there and faced some adversity but got it done. Going out there and getting some comfort room was real helpful. The offense came through for me.”
After being stifled by Islanders pitching on Saturday, Sam Houston broke through for three runs in the fourth. Riley McKnight reached on a four-pitch walk and moved to second when Lance Miles laid down a bunt to the pitcher that could not be fielded.
Zach Smith, who homered on Saturday, hit a liner up the middle that was misjudged by the center fielder, scoring two runs. Smith, who took second on the play, moved to third on a groundout and came home on a Matt Broadbent single.
“They have prepared way too hard to ever think about surrendering,” Deggs said. “These guys showed up to play and pitched us tough. It's all about responding and getting back up. That's what we did today. Southeastern Louisiana is turning the screw on us so everything we do gets magnified. We have to continue to match them and I thought that's what we did today.”
The Bearkats (31-18, 19-5 SLC), who totaled 11 hits, one day after managing seven and only one run, remain two games back of the Lions and are second in the conference standings. With six games remaining in the league slate, every game becomes critical.
“You can't play as well as we have and not have weekends like this (offensively) where it's like pulling teeth,” Deggs said. “That's baseball and it will happen. A lot of that has to do with what we're chasing. We've got to continue to play pack baseball at our tempo.”
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (16-31, 5-19 SLC) quickly countered for a pair of runs in the fourth, helped by two Sam Houston errors. The Islanders loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of singles and a miscue. After Gossett induced an infielder pop up, the Kats seemed poised to turn two on a groundout but the relay to first popped out of the glove to plate an additional run.
Andrew Fregia belted his sixth home run of the season, pounding one off the scoreboard in right center to lead off the sixth inning and give the Bearkats a 4-2 advantage. The freshman leads the squad in homers, with all coming in the last 27 games.
“I was looking for a fastball over the plate and I got good direction on it,” Fregia said. “I knew it was gone when I hit it. That fourth inning, you could feel the shift in the whole dugout. We just got behind it and kept rolling throughout the game.”
The Islanders cut the deficit to one in the seventh, helped by a triple that swirled around in the wind to right, and followed with a single to make it 4-3. Sam Houston turned to right-hander Miles Manning who eventually stranded one at second on a punch out.
Gossett improved to 6-0 with the win, tossing 6 1-3 innings, scattering eight hits and allowing three runs (one earned). In the process, the Cypress product lowered his earned run average to 2.76 and has held opponents to two earned runs or fewer in four straight outings.
Seeking some additional insurance, the Bearkats received some quality two-out hitting. Jaxxon Grisham, who came in to pinch run for Broadbent, singled to center and advanced two bags on a wild pitch and ground out. Robie Rojas provided the damage, lining a single to center.
Manning recorded two quick outs to open the eighth but a single to left brought in closer Greg Belton for his first work in five days. After hitting the first batter, the right-hander shut down the rally, providing a strikeout on a wicked breaking ball.
After putting runners on first and second with two down in the ninth, Belton added his second strikeout. The save was his ninth this season, moving him up to a third-place tie for saves in a season in Bearkat lore. The senior also solidified the 31st win of the season, matching last season's total.
“I couldn't be any prouder of a group of young men,” Deggs said. “They are loyal, hardworking and have all been raised right. To get to watch us grow from where we started has been a real blessing for this coaching staff to get to watch that and be around it every day.”
