HUNTSVILLE – It was a record crowd at Don Sanders Stadium on Tuesday night, but the No. 1 Texas Longhorns were too much for Sam Houston, taking down the Bearkats by a 10-2 score.
The Kats (4-5) set a new Don Sanders Stadium record with 2,928 fans in attendance for the first time the nation's top-ranked team has played in Huntsville, and had an early lead before 10 unanswered runs by Texas (9-0) put things out of reach.
An early RBI by
Walker Janek, scoring
Clayton Chadwick had the Kats ahead 1-0 after two innings, but the Longhorns answered with a pair of 2-out runs in the third and then added three more in both the fourth and the sixth frames before a 2-run homer by Skyler Messinger closed out their scoring.
Meanwhile, the Kats were held to just one hit by UT starter Andre Duplantier who earned his second win of the season, needing 78 pitches to navigate 6.0 innings before handing it over to a quartet of arms to close it out.
Chadwick finished with two of the three Kats' hits in the game, with
Easton Loyd joining Janek with RBI.
Cole Wesnseski looked strong early on, retiring eight of the first nine hitters he faced to start the game before three straight 2-out hits put an end to that stretch. He took the loss, allowing five runs on eight hits in 4.0 innings, striking out four.
Gavi Coldiron and
Blaine Romero combined for 2.2 scoreless innings of relief to end the game, with Romero striking out a pair in his season debut.
The Kats will look to put an end to its 4-game skid over the weekend when it hosts Texas Southern for a 3-game set beginning Friday night at The Don.
