HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats closed out a 4-game sweep of McNeese on Sunday with its second straight doubleheader sweep of the Cowboys at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Kats (19-16, 15-9 SLC) had to hold off the Cowboy rallies (18-18, 12-11 SLC) each time, catching McNeese trying to swipe home plate for the final out of the opener before turning a double play to end things in the finale with the tying runs on base.
Sam Houston will be back in action this upcoming weekend with a 4-game series against Lamar in Huntsville.
Game 1
Sam Houston 5, McNeese 4
The Bearkats got strong starting pitching on both ends of the doubleheader and it started in the opener with freshman
Coltin Atkinson going 5.0 innings for the win, moving to 4-1 on the year. He struck out seven Cowboys and walked just one, allowing only one unearned run in his stint.
Garrett Egli and
Steven Beard closed it out, with Beard picking up his first save with 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.
The Kats opened up a 5-0 lead through the fourth inning, getting out in front 3-0 on RBI from
Brandon Pruitt,
Blake Faecher and
Jack Rogers before a 2-run double by
Trent Touchet capped a 3-run fourth.
But McNeese clawed back with a run in the fifth and then three runs on homers by Julian Gonzales and Kade Morris to make it 5-4. Things got dicey in the seventh when the Cowboys got their first two runners on to open the inning, eventually loading the sacks on a walk to Cooper Hext with two outs.
But McNeese finished out the game on the bases as Jake Dickerson took off on an attempted steal of home plate, an attempt the Kats snuffed out, catching Dickerson off the bases to end the game.
Game 2
Sam Houston 6, McNeese 4
The Kats played with the lead again in the second game of the day, getting up 5-1 through six frames before having to keep McNeese at arm's length at the end.
The lead held up in large part due to a career day from starter
Kyle Backhus who posted career bests with 6.0 innings and eight strikeouts, working around four walks to allow just one run, winning his second straight start.
Alex Havlicek went the final 2.0 innings for the save, punching out the side in the eighth before working out of trouble in the ninth and finishing with four strikeouts and just one run allowed.
At the plate the Kats were led by
Jack Rogers who reached all five times he came to the plate, hitting safely three times with a double, a pair of walks and an RBI.
Clayton Chadwick also put together a 4-for-4 game that saw him score three times.
Easton Loyd also delivered a pair of hits and two RBI, while
Gavin Johnson finished 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.
Rogers got the Kats on the board early with a 2-out RBI single in the third and Loyd and
Anthony MacKenzie added RBI singles in the fourth, upping the lead to 3-0.
McNeese got one back on an RBI double by Julian Gonzales in the sixth, but Backhus was able to minimize the damage, striking out Hext and Morris with the bases loaded to end the inning and preserve a 3-1 advantage.
The Kats responded by tacking on a pair of runs on an RBI single by Loyd and a wild pitch that scored him two batters later.
But McNeese put two more on the board in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-3 before a Cowboy error helped the Kats plate another in the seventh.
Again, things got dicey in the ninth as McNeese cut it to 6-4 on an RBI single by Nate Fisbeck with two outs in the inning. Dickerson then walked to put the tying run on base for Reid Bourque, but Havlicek was able to get the Cowboy shortstop to ground into a game-ending twin killing for the game's final outs.
