HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats completed a weekend sweep of Tarleton in resounding fashion on Sunday afternoon, blasting the Texans, 12-2, in just seven innings at Don Sanders Stadium.
Carlos Contreras capped another big weekend by leading the Kats (10-5, 3-0 WAC) with four RBI, going 2-for-3 on the day.
Clayton Chadwick also had three hits and scored three times, driving in a pair as one of six Bearkats with at least one RBI in the game.
The win runs SHSU's win streak to six in a row leading into a heavy week of play that includes a Tuesday game vs Baylor at The Don, followed one night later by a trip to Rice and then a weekend series at Lamar.
Sam Houston scored six times in the first two innings and added two more in the fourth and four in the fifth, taking full advantage of a beleaguered Tarleton (3-12, 0-3 WAC) pitching staff. That offensive output made a winner of
Matt Dillard who went 5.0 innings on just 76 pitches and did not allow a run until surrendering back-to-back homers to London Green and Spencer Bloom in the fifth, the only runs of the day for Tarleton.
Justin Wishkoski opened the scoring with a sac fly in the first, scoring
Anthony MacKenzie for the first of three times in the game. A Texan error followed three batters later to score another run and extend the inning for
Jacob Guerrero, who singled home the third run of the inning.
Chadwick then picked up an RBI of his own one inning later and came in to score, with MacKenzie, two batters later on a 2-run single by Contreras that upped the lead to 6-0 and chased Texan starter and losing pitcher Aiden Adams from the hill.
Tarleton reliever Bryce Hackett kept the Kats off the board in the third, but could not do so in the fourth when the Kats strung together three straight 2-out hits to push across two more runs, getting an RBI triple from
Easton Loyd and a second run-scoring base hit from Guerrero.
The Texans would then get their runs in the fifth, but the Kats immediately answered, scoring four times in the bottom half of the inning, starting with another RBI single by Chadwick. Contreras then made it an 11-2 advantage with a 2-run triple into the right-field corner and one batter later
Trent Touchet put the run-rule victory in range with a sacrifice fly.
That was just what the Kats needed as
Blaine Romero and
Hunter Murray were able to each fire a scoreless frame in the sixth and seventh to close out the sweep.
