HUNTSVILLE – The bats finally came alive for the Sam Houston State Bearkats on Sunday as they avoided a weekend sweep with a 6-2 win over Houston Baptist at Don Sanders Stadium.
 
The Bearkats (7-7, 1-2 SLC) had managed just three runs on eight hits in the first two games of the series, but they erupted for six runs on 11 hits – including five doubles – in Sunday's series finale to avoid being swept to open up Southland Conference play for the first time since 2001.
 
Much of that punch came from the bottom third of the Sam Houston lineup as the trio of Gavin Johnson, Eric Bohnert and Dee Shelton combined to go 7-for-10 with four runs scored, four doubles and three RBI.
 
Johnson turned in the biggest day of all, going 3-for-4 with a pair of 2-baggers, while Shelton's 2-run double in the fourth inning turned the tide of the game and gave the Kats their first lead.
 
Meanwhile, on the mound, lefty Matt Dillard continued to impress early in his sophomore season as he picked up his second win of the year. He entered in the fourth in relief of starter Caleb Cannon and proceeded to throw 5.0 shutout innings, striking out six.
 
Cannon, Dillard and Lance Lusk combined to keep the Huskies (5-11, 2-1 SLC) off the board for the final six frames, punching out eight hitters overall while not allowing a walk or hitting a batter.
 
For HBU, Solomon Klimeck was the losing pitcher, allowing five runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings of work to fall to 0-3 on the year.
 
The Huskies finished with five doubles as well, with two apiece coming from Trent Franson and Johnny Gonzales. Franson's first double set up the first run of the game for HBU in the top of the first inning.
 
Johnson tied it up an inning later with a 2-out RBI double into the right-field corner to score Corbin Vines, but Franson and Gonzales connected on consecutive 2-baggers an inning later to push the Huskies back out in front, 2-1.
 
Dillard then entered and put up a zero in the fourth and the Bearkat offense rewarded him with three runs in the bottom half of the inning, all coming with two outs. Johnson's second double of the day got the rally going, and it continued when Bohnert drew a walk.
 
Shelton then blasted a one-hop double off the left-center field fence, scoring both runs and putting the Kats ahead 3-2. Colton Cowser followed that up with an RBI single, the first of two RBI on the day for him, to give the Kats a 4-2 lead.
 
Jack Rogers, who extended hit hit streak to a career-high 13 games on Sunday, also got in on things an inning later as he doubled to lead off and came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Anthony MacKenzie. HBU then put together their best threat of the latter part of the game in the seventh when singles by Christian Dumont and Franson brought the tying run to the plate; however, Dillard was able to respond with consecutive strikeouts of Gonzales and Todd Jackson to end the threat.
 
The Kats added another run in the eighth on an RBI grounder by Cowser for a 6-2 lead and Lusk came on to pitch a scoreless ninth, getting some help from Rogers in left field as he threw out Franson at third base for the game's final out.
 
Sam Houston will go without a midweek game this week before continuing Southland Conference play on Friday with the series opener at Incarnate Word.