HUNTSVILLE – Sam Houston put up runs in each of the first seven innings on their way to a 12-9 win over Stephen F. Austin on Friday night in the series opener at Don Sanders Stadium.
Clayton Chadwick homered in the first inning and tied a career high with four RBI to lead the way, while
Lane Brewster drove in a pair and hit his first collegiate home run as well.
Sam Houston (25-19, 15-7 WAC) increased its lead to 2.0 full games in the WAC Southwest Division with the win, and did so on the strength of just nine hits, taking advantage of shaky pitching and defense by the Lumberjacks (13-29, 7-15 WAC) throughout the night.
That included drawing 10 free walks, five of which came from the eye of freshman
Walker Janek who scored three times and did not record an official at-bat. The five walks tied an SHSU school record in just the fourth time the feat has happened in program history, the last being Nick Zaleski in 2009 vs Missouri State.
Matt Dillard got the start and logged 4.0 innings, but it was
Logan Hewitt who picked up his second win of the season with 2.0 solid innings of relief.
Lance Lusk earned his seventh save of the season, striking out the side in the ninth.
The Kats did not let up on SFA starter Joe Todd, who fell to 1-7 on the year, scoring in each of his 5.0 innings on the hill before touching up reliever Patrick Kudelka for six more scores.
SFA had an early lead with a run in the first, but a solo homer from Chadwick tied it up in the home half of the inning and the first of
Christian Smith's two RBI singles put the Kats up one inning later.
Sacrifice flies from Chadwick and
Easton Loyd tacked on runs in the third and fourth before Brewster tagged Todd with a solo homer to lead off the fifth inning, a blast that just cleared the left-field wall.
Brewster and Chadwick did more damage in the sixth with RBI hits, but it was the seventh inning that saw the Kats truly open things up, scoring five times on the strength of RBI hits from Loyd and Smith, but also with the aid of four SFA errors.
From there it looked as though the Kats would cruise to the finish line, but the SFA offense did not quit, answering the Kats' 5-run seventh with a 5-run eighth to cut the lead back to 12-9. The Jacks had the tying run at the plate in that frame as well before
Gavi Coldiron was able to get Cal Campbell to pop out before handing it over to Lusk for a perfect ninth.
The Kats and Jacks will battle again on Saturday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 p.m. from The Don. It can be heard on GoBearkats.com
