NEW ORLEANS – After falling in a slugfest on Saturday, the Sam Houston baseball team got stellar pitching from a pair of arms and left town with a series split with New Orleans, closing with a 7-1 win at Maestri Field.
 
Kyle Backhus allowed just one run in 5.0 innings and Coltin Atkinson shut out the Privateers (17-15, 12-8 SLC) in the final 4.0 frames. Backhus picked up his first win of the season with three strikeouts and just three hits allowed, while Atkinson earned the save with only one hit allowed and a strikeout.
 
Sam Houston (15-15, 11-9 SLC) had just six hits, but drew six walks and took advantage of a pair of UNO errors to get across its seven runs. Seven different Bearkats picked up an RBI while Corbin Vines finished as the only Kat with a multi-hit day with a pair of singles.
 
For UNO, Travis LeBlanc took the loss despite facing the minimum over his first 3.0 innings; however, he recorded just one more out before allowing a pair of runs and giving way to four arms out of the bullpen.
 
Both pitchers started off well, facing the minimum through the first 3.0 frames, but the Kats finally broke through with a pair of runs in the fourth on an RBI ground out by Colton Cowser and an RBI single by Jack Rogers.
 
The first of two UNO errors helped the Kats get home their third run of the game in the fifth to up the lead to 3-0. UNO got a run back on an RBI single by Travis Gober in the bottom half of the inning, but that would be all they would get the rest of the way.
 
RBI from Vines, Gavin Johnson and Brandon Pruitt came in a 3-run sixth that essentially put the game away. Blake Faecher added an RBI double in the seventh and Atkinson did the rest, retiring the final 10 Privateers of the game to earn a 4.0-inning save.
 
The Bearkats will now return to The Don on Tuesday to host Baylor in a game set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch on the Bearkat Sports Network.