HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkat baseball team dropped both ends of a conference doubleheader to Northwestern State on Saturday at Don Sanders Stadium.
 
The Bearkats (4-12, 1-6 SLC) will look to even the series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in the series finale against the Demons (9-8, 4-3 SLC). The game can be watched on the Bearkat Sports Network.
 
Game 1
Northwestern State 3, Sam Houston 1 (7 innings)
Sam Houston staked itself to an early 1-0 lead on an RBI grounder by Jack Rogers, but mustered only four hits in the game. Meanwhile, the Demons were able to push across a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to steal the abbreviated affair and even the series.
 
Garrett Egli was stellar in relief, putting out a fire in the fifth and striking out each of the first five hitters he faced, but ran into trouble early in the seventh inning and was saddled with his first loss of the season.
 
Meanwhile, NSU's Cal Carver went the distance, punching out 10 Bearkat hitters and allowing just the one run to move to 3-1 on the season.
 
Game 2
Northwestern State 3, Sam Houston 2
Two Demon pitchers combined to punch out 15 hitters, making a 3-0 lead hold up to complete the sweep of the day's twinbill.
 
Levi David got the start for NSU and punched out a dozen batters with just one walk and two runs allowed in 6.1 innings for the win before handing it over to Donovan Ohnoutka who went the final 2.2 innings for the save.
 
Bearkat pitchers struck out 10 hitters of their own, including three apiece  from starter Dominic Robinson and reliever Matt Rudis; however, it was Robinson taking the loss despite allowing just two runs in his effort.
 
Mason Schulz was the lone Bearkat in either game to record a multi-hit effort, singling twice with a late RBI that cut the Demon lead to 3-2.
 
The Kats had a golden chance to knot the game in the eighth, getting a pair of runners on before Ohnoutka was able to retire both Rogers and Gavin Johnson to end the final Bearkat threat of the night.