Box Score

HUNTSVILLE – Trey Ochoa drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the top of the 10th to give the Sam Houston State Bearkats a 7-6 walk-off win over Abilene Christian on Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium.

The Bearkats (19-7, 8-0 SLC) kept their conference record unblemished with the win, but had to go longer than expected to do it after ACU's (13-11, 2-9 SLC) Dalton Farkas connected on a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth off of Bearkat closer Dakota Mills to send the game into extra innings.

But in the extra frame the Bearkats drew four walks off of ACU reliever Derek Scott, including consecutive two-out free passes to Erich Bohnert and Ochoa to walk it off – literally.

The game continued a breakout weekend for Bohnert who followed up his three-hit performance on Thursday with a 2-for-3 night that included an RBI, double and a key sacrifice fly late in the game. Ben Haefner stayed hot with three hits and an RBI, while Andrew Fregia hit safely twice and scored three times.

Hunter Hearn had just one hit on the night, but made it count with his sixth home run of the year in the seventh frame. Ochoa reached twice with a hit and a pair of RBI, along with two of Sam Houston's season-high seven stolen bases.

Riley Cooper picked up his first win of the season in relief, punching out three of the four hitters he faced in closing out the ninth and tossing a perfect 10th. Meanwhile, Scott fell to 1-1 on the year for ACU.

In all, the Bearkat pitching staff used five arms on the night and allowed just four hits; however, two came in the crucial ninth inning, including Farkas' homer. 

UP NEXT
The Bearkats will go for their third sweep in a row to open up Southland Conference play on Saturday afternoon in the finale vs Abilene Christian. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.

KEY INNINGS
Top 2nd
The Bearkats ran their way out of a scoring opportunity in the first, and the Wildcats took advantage in the top of the second to snag an early 1-0 lead. A walk to Riley Donahue came back to haunt the Kats after Matt Munoz moved him into scoring position with a single. One batter later Zach Smith reached on a fielder's choice, bringing in Donahue to put ACU in front.

Bottom 3rd
An inning later Sam would square it back up in an inning that got going when Bohnert singled with one away. A wild pitch and a grounder moved him up to third, setting up Haefner who singled off the glove of Donahue at first base for the RBI.

Bottom 5th
Sam Houston would take advantage of the second of four ACU miscues on the night in the fifth to take its first lead, extending the inning when Ochoa reached with two away. He would then steal second with Haefner at the plate and just two pitches later Haefner dumped a single into right field for his second RBI of the game.

Top 6th
Again, a leadoff walk stung the Kats, this time in the sixth. With Riley Gossett starting his first inning of relief of starter Gabriel Sequeira after working out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, he issued a six-pitch walk to Farkas, followed by a single from Donahue. A grounder advanced each runner and brought up Munoz who tied the game at 2-2 with a grounder to shortstop.

Bottom 6th
The tie did not last long, however, as Sam answered right back in the bottom half of the inning. Fregia singled with one away in the inning and promptly stole second, Sam's fifth swipe of the night, to get into scoring position. The second single of the night by Clayton Harp pushed him up to third and Jordan Cannon got the job done after that, grounding out to bring him home to push the Kats back in front 3-2.

Top 7th
ACU, however, would retake the lead in the seventh with plenty of help from the Kats. A pair of errors were costly for Sam Houston, helping the Wildcats plate a pair despite not getting a hit in the frame. An error by Ochoa to open the inning was followed by a pair of walks that loaded the bases with just one away in the inning, prompting the Kats to turn to Mills out of the bullpen to face Farkas. Mills would coax a grounder to shortstop, but Fregia's throw to second was wild, allowing both Derek Scott and Seth Watts to score unearned runs to put ACU back in front 4-3.

Bottom 7th
But Bohnert gave the Kats something to work with immediately in the bottom of the inning, doubling off of ACU starter Garrett Hutson to start the frame and moving to third base on a wild pitch. That set up Ochoa, who tied it up at 4-4 with a sacrifice fly to center field. Two batters later Hearn put the Kats back in front, launching an 0-1 pitch out to left field off of Hutson.

Top 9th
Mills tossed a dominant eighth and the Kats would add what would prove to be a key insurance run on a sacrifice fly from Bohnert in the bottom half, one they would need it after the Wildcats got something going in the ninth. Things looked to be going fine after Mills punched out Nolan Ritchie to open the inning. But a walk to Scott followed and then Colton Eager reached on an infield single to bring up Farkas. 

The Kats then took advantage of a break, getting Eager out on the baess for a key second out after he tried to advance on a pitch in the dirt. That out loomed even larger when Farkas, after fouling off a pair of 3-2 pitches, connected on a two-run shot to left field to tie the game.

Bottom 10th
Cooper breezed through the 10th, striking out a pair to get the Bearkat offense right back to the plate against Scott. Fregia opened it up by working a leadoff walk and quickly moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by pinch hitter Darien Simms. ACU then chose to walk Cannon with a base open and then got a potential double play off the bat of pinch hitter Chase Cryer; however, Cryer beat the throw out to first base to keep things going. Bohnert followed that up by working a five-pitch walk to load the bases for Ochoa, and the Bearkat second baseman finished it off by fouling away one full-count pitch before looking at ball four to force in Fregia with the winning run.

QUOTABLES
Coach Matt Deggs on the win …
“Those guys over there (ACU) played their hearts out tonight. I thought their starter really gutted it up for them and he survived us hitting a lot of balls real hard, but right at people. I really liked our approach at the plate tonight. We really hit a lot of balls on the nose, but didn't really have a lot to show for it. We were just too generous with the walks, errors and a base running mistake. We are going to have to play a little bit better if we want to come out and win tomorrow.”

Deggs on surviving a tough game …
“Everybody in this league and across the country is capable of beating you on any given night if you don't play good, fundamental, rock-solid baseball – which starts with strike one and no free passes. You have to be able to finish routine plays, which I didn't think we did a great job of tonight. But I'll say this, and I've said it before, it's like playing in an airplane. If you get off, everybody is good. The thing that saved us tonight was our resiliency and the fact that these kids love to compete. They just constantly answer back.” 

Deggs on learning from Friday's game …
“If you walk away from games like this, you can learn a lot. If you don't, it's a pretty rotten feeling. But it's hard to do what we've done in this league and any time you have a chance to jump out to an 8-0 start, to start off that way and play the way we've played in this league the last three years is incredibly tough. That's what I told the team after the game, that winning is very, very hard. We can't take a day for granted.” 

Deggs on the performances of Eric Bohnert and Riley Cooper …
“Eric (Bohnert) has played this weekend like the kid we signed out of Cy Ranch. He's a high, high caliber player. When he gets a little confidence to him and really understands his game, he's going to be a force to be reckoned with and I really like what I'm seeing out of him. I also thought Riley (Cooper) really stood up tonight too, when we needed him most. He's done that for us for two years now.”