HUNTSVILLE – Kyle Backhus continued his run of solid pitching and the Sam Houston Bearkats got a pair of big home runs to propel them to a series-clinching, 8-4, win over Little Rock on Sunday afternoon at Don Sanders Stadium.
 
Backhus picked up his fourth win in his last four starts to go to 4-0 on the year, cruising through 6.0 scoreless innings with six strikeouts and two hits allowed. He owns a 1.88 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 24.0 innings over his last four outings.
 
The win was the Kats' (22-19) second straight over the Trojans (19-23) and secured the series in the final non-conference tilt of the season.
 
LR's Jacob Weatherly was cruising through the first two frames of the game but ran into trouble in the third loading the bases for Colton Cowser who rocketed the first pitch he saw out to right-center field for his second career grand slam, making it a 4-0 lead.
 
Two innings later Jack Rogers cranked his 10^th homer of the season over the center field fence just one batter after the Trojans had intentionally walked Cowser with the bases empty, upping the margin to 6-0.
 
That was more than enough for Backhus who never dealt with a real scoring threat on the day after the second inning.
 
Ryan Peters, Tanner Sembera and Alex Havlicek came on to all throw an inning apiece, finishing off a day that saw the Kats punch out 11 Trojans on strikes.
 
Sam Houston will now dive back into Southland Conference play on Friday when it opens up its final home series of the season vs Abilene Christian at Don Sanders Stadium.