Kats stay hot, take down Aggies, 8-6

Tuesday, April 6

Huntsville

6:30 PM

13-13

Texas A&M

19-12

Texas A&M

Sam Houston

Photo by: Brian Blalock

Kats stay hot, take down Aggies, 8-6

4/6/2021 11:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats stayed red hot on Tuesday night, erasing a 5-1 deficit to score an 8-6 win over Texas A&M at Don Sanders Stadium.

The Bearkats (13-13) evened their season record with the win, their first over the Aggies since 2017. Sam Houston has now won seven in a row and nine of its last 10 entering its upcoming weekend series at New Orleans, set to begin Friday night on the Lakefront at Maestri Field.

Tanner Sembera was stellar in 3.0 innings of 1-hit, scoreless relief that saw him punch out five Aggies without a walk to earn his first win of the season. He, along with fellow relievers Cole Wesneski and Alex Havlicek managed to shut out the Aggies for 5.0 innings before handing a 3-run lead over to Lance Lusk in the ninth.

Tanner Sembera strikes out the side in the third inning ??. Schulz, Pruitt, MacKenzie due up in the bottom half for the Kats.#EatEmUpKats

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— Sam Houston Baseball (@BearkatsBSB) April 7, 2021

Lusk allowed a run on three hits, but made the advantage stand up for his sixth save of the season, retiring Will Frizzell with a pair of runners on base to close out the game.

At the plate, Jack Rogers and Colton Cowser continued their strong offensive surge, each homering in the win. Rogers had a pair of hits, including a 3-run homer in the third inning that trimmed the Aggie lead to 5-4.

3 RUN Bomb!!

Jack Rogers sends this one out of this ballpark, 446 feet, to make it a 5-4 A&M advantage.#EatEmUpKats

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— Sam Houston Baseball (@BearkatsBSB) April 7, 2021

Meanwhile, Cowser got the Kats on the board in the first inning with an opposite-field solo homer and went on to reach base four times, including a pair of intentional walks later in the game. Mason Schulz and Brandon Pruitt each added a pair of hits, while Gavin Johnson had a pair of RBI.

SEE YA BALL!????

Colton Cowser sends that over the LF wall for a solo homerun that makes it 2-1 A&M.#EatEmUpKats

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— Sam Houston Baseball (@BearkatsBSB) April 6, 2021

A Bearkat throwing error and a solo homer by Austin Bost gave the Aggies an early lead against Sam Houston starter Matt Rudis, and after Cowser's homer in the bottom half, Texas A&M got three more home in the top of the second for a 5-1 lead.

But from there the Bearkats went to work, starting with Rogers' blast over the right-center field fence an inning later. Then, in the fourth, Schulz evened things up when he brought home Bryce Holmes with an RBI triple just inside fair territory deep in the left-field corner.

An inning later Johnson gave the Kats the lead and put Texas A&M's Jonathan Chandler on the hook for the loss with an RBI single for a 6-5 edge. An aggie error and a bases-loaded walk to Johnson upped the lead to 8-5 in the sixth, and Havlicek and Wesneski made that stand up with scoreless work in relief.

Gavin Johnson with the RBI single to give the Bearkats a 6-5 lead over A&M heading into the sixth inning??#EatEmUpKats

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— Sam Houston Baseball (@BearkatsBSB) April 7, 2021

Alex Havlicek comes in and gets the K ?? for out number 1 in the eighth.#EatEmUpKats

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— Sam Houston Baseball (@BearkatsBSB) April 7, 2021

But things got a little testy in the ninth as the Aggies got a run back on an RBI ground out by Ty Coleman and then 2-out singles by Bryce Blaum and Ray Alejo got the go-ahead run to the plate in Frizzell; however, Lusk was able to get the Aggie first basema to fly out harmlessly to right field to end it.