Box Score
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston State Bearkats erupted for five runs in the first inning and continued to add on, closing out a sweep of Abilene Christian with a 10-0 win in eight innings on Saturday afternoon at Don Sanders Stadium.
Andrew Fregia had three hits and finished just a double short of the cycle in the run-rule affair as one of three Bearkats (20-7, 9-0 SLC) to finish with multi-hit afternoons. His first hit of the day came in the form of an RBI triple in the first inning, the 15th of his career, to give him sole possession the career record for three-baggers at Sam Houston.
In all the Kats would finish with 12 hits off of six ACU (13-12, 2-10 SLC) pitchers, making a winner of Nick Mikolajchak in just his second career start. The right-hander scattered six hits in his 6.0 innings of work, walking just one hitter while striking out a career-high seven. Brad Demco and Landon Ausley would also pitch a scoreless inning of relief with Demco striking out a pair and Ausley one.
At the plate, Jack Rogers had a pair of hits and two RBI while Clayton Harp scored and singled twice in three at-bats.
Wildcat starter Jonathan Nicholson did not make it out of the first inning in falling to 2-3 on the year. He allowed all five runs in the first on just four hits with a pair of walks. Caleb Dougherty was the most effective ACU arm of the day with three strikeouts in 3.0 innings and two runs allowed.
UP NEXT
Four consecutive games away from The Don await the Bearkats next week, starting with a trip to Rice on Tuesday with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. from Reckling Park. Sam Houston will then travel to Nicholls for three games in Thibodaux, starting Friday at 6:00 p.m. at Ray E. Didier Field.
KEY INNINGS
Bottom 1st
Sam Houston wasted no time jumping out to a big lead, scoring five times on five hits – three for extra bases – in their first time to the plate. Hunter Hearn started the scoring with an RBI single just three batters into the game after both Eric Bohnert and Ben Haefner reached against Nicholson. A double play off the bat of Blake Chisolm looked like it might quiet the inning, but the Kats were just getting started. Three of the next four batters would smack extra-base hits, starting with Fregia's record-setting RBI triple to right field that scored Hearn. A wild pitch from Nicholson brought Fregia home in front of a walk to Harp, and Chase Cryer followed that up by shooting a double into the left-field corner to make it 4-0. Rogers then worked the count full against reliever Colton Brasher before doubling himself, scoring Cryer to give Sam a comfortable 5-0 lead after an inning of play.
Bottom 3rd
The Kats tacked on two more two innings later in an inning that started on singles from both Fregia and Harp. Rogers then picked up his first RBI of the game with a grounder to first before Jordan Cannon picked up an RBI on a fly ball to shallow right field that scored Harp, courtesy of an athletic slide at the plate to avoid the tag of ACU catcher Lane Bourland, giving Sam a 7-0 advantage.
Bottom 7th
Rogers singled and scored on a wild pitch in the seventh and then Fregia added another run in the seventh when he led off with a solo homer. The swing was his fourth longball of the year, going out deep to left field off of Dougherty, making it a 9-0 game.
Bottom 8th
The Kats finished the game off in abbreviated fashion one inning later, without the benefit of a hit. Pinch hitter Jaxxon Grisham got the clinching RBI on a sacrifice fly, scoring Darien Simms from third after he had led off the inning with a four-pitch walk in his first plate appearance of the day.
QUOTABLES
Coach Matt Deggs on …
“I thought we got a really good outing out of Nick Mikolajchak where he came out pounded the strike zone early for us. It was good to see us score early for and we had the bats rolling all weekend long. I thought we did a great job functioning as an offense and together as a Pack. We just sped up the game on them by shrinking the field, which was a good response after how we played yesterday. We played better baseball today than yesterday and we are going to have to keep our heads down to keep grinding. We have a tough week coming up.”
Deggs on Mikolajchak's start …
“Well, we knew we would get a good outing out of Miko because they have to hit off of him and he is not going to give you anything. That's what makes Miko so good. He doesn't give you anything. We had one error in the first but we settled back down and started playing really good defense. He will give up a hit but he won't walk you and he's going to rack up some punchouts.”
Deggs on Sam Houston's 9-0 start to Southland Conference play …
“Well, that is three years in a row that this team has been a danger in this league. It's a deal where you cannot jump out ahead of yourself, especially when our goals and ambitions are so high. We are going to have to take it one game out of time and play really good Pack baseball then we are going to have a chance.”
Andrew Fregia on completing the sweep of ACU …
“It feels great and it is a big confidence booster for us. Anytime you put up big numbers like that early, it helps a lot. I think it helped take the pressure off the pitchers with the big first inning and we had a bunch of young guys like Eric Bohnert, who is playing like a junior, stepping up.”
Nick Mikolajchak on his start vs ACU …
“I went out there just trying to pump strikes. We started to roll once we got out to a big lead early with the offense crushing it. All I had to do was don't walk anybody and get in a groove.”
Jack Rogers on the big first inning …
“I thought it was big time for us to get a little momentum early. I got down 0-2 but got it to 3-2in my first at-bat, and I finally got a good barrel on the ball. I was really relaxed in there and try to do my part. You cannot take anything for granted because that team over there is really good and when you go up 2-0 on a team in a series, it feels good. We tried to empty our tanks today and end it well.”
