Bearkats open Lafayette Regional on Friday
6/2/2016 9:00:00 AM | Baseball
LAFAYETTE, La. – When 26 new faces reported for the Sam Houston State baseball program, there was never talk of rebuilding.
Not when they were picked third and fourth preseason in the Southland Conference. Not when they started 0-5 or were a marginal 6-12. And certainly not now.
The Bearkats (41-20) overcame early growing pains and now find themselves as the three-seed in the NCAA Lafayette Regional, ready to open their fourth postseason in five years on Friday at 1 p.m. against second-seeded Arizona.
Uniquely enough, Sam Houston begins its postseason campaign the same place it started the regular season – at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. In that series, Louisiana swept the Bearkats, in a series second-year head coach Matt Deggs referred to as throwing his new guys into the deep end.
“There are a lot of moving parts right now,” second-year head coach Matt Deggs said following a 13-3 loss in the finale. “The lineup that we played this weekend is probably not the lineup in April and May. There was a lot of us identifying and pinpointing. I look at the series with mixed emotions.”
Turns out, Deggs was right. Since that series, the squad's weekend rotation has changed three-fold, bullpen roles have been defined, Bryce Johnson has been a staple in the leadoff spot, Zach Smith moved to first base and Andrew Fregia has shined at third among others.
“They're a pack,” Deggs said. “They all have a specific job, duty or function. There are a bunch of different roles on this ballclub. What we try to do first is identify roles and go do your job. I think we do a pretty good job of functioning together.”
With a conference regular-season championship and tournament title in hand – which the squad had never done in the same season since joining the Southland in 1988 – they seek another first this weekend in winning a regional.
“We've got to take one day at a time,” Deggs said. “The most important game in any regional is the first game. You've got to go get the first game. I've been a part of a team that didn't win the first game that won it, but I don't recommend it.”
Standing in their way will be an Arizona squad that finished its season 38-20 including a 16-14 record and third-place finish in the Pac-12 Conference. The Wildcats are returning to the postseason for the first time since winning the national championship in 2012.
Under first-year head coach Jay Johnson, Arizona has posted impressive wins throughout their campaign including taking two of three against No. 24 Rice to open the season. The squad is riding a six-game win streak into the weekend and was an impressive 12-2 against top-25 foes during the regular season.
Despite the Wildcats' success, Sam Houston's focus remains internal. The Bearkats are 14-3 in May and have faced – and passed – tests of their own lately including a 5-0 win at second-ranked Texas A&M and 7-4 tournament-clinching victory against regional-bound Southeastern Louisiana.
“You've got to play your game at what I call a five,” Deggs said. “Zero is no emotion and 10 is the building is burning down. We control that by controlling the pace and dictate the game. We've got to slow the game down, play it at our pace and just let the game come to us.”
Right-handed starter Heath Donica (10-3, 3.23 ERA) will take the mound in the opener for the Bearkats. The reigning Louisville Slugger Player of the Week and Southland Conference Tournament MVP ranks 12th nationally in wins and 18th with four complete games.
“It's humbling to be able to be trusted in that situation in game one in a regional,” Donica said. “I'm still preparing the same way. We're having a four hour practice today (Tuesday). We're not going to back down from anybody. We're going to get ready to play.”
On paper, the Bearkats and Wildcats have posted similar numbers this season. Both squads are hitting .291 and are within 10 of one another – both ways – in runs, hits, doubles and stolen bases. Arizona owns an edge with a 3.43 ERA to Sam Houston's 3.85 but Bearkat pitching has struck out 34 more hitters.
Friday's opener, and every game of the double-elimination Lafayette Regional, will be broadcast on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Fans can also listen to Sam Houston broadcasts through ksam1017.com with Kooter Robertson and Jason Barfield on the call.
Top-seed and host Louisiana will face four-seed Princeton at 7 p.m. on Friday. The winners of the two games will play at 7 o'clock Saturday. The losers will play at 1 p.m. For the full regional schedule and information on each team, click here.
“All 64 teams are expecting to walk through the gates of Omaha and only eight are going to do it,” Deggs said. “We look at it as, 'why can't we do it? Why can't it be us?' That's our mission. We're going to have our hands full but I like the way we're playing right now.”
