Sam Houston (2-2) vs Dartmouth (0-0)
Don Sanders Stadium (Huntsville)
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GAME 1 | Friday, Feb. 22 | 6:30 PM | ESPN+
Projected Starters
SHSU: RHP Coltin Atkinson (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 5.0 IP, 6 K, 0 BB)
DART: RHP Clark Gilmore (2023 stats: 2-5, 7.43 ERA, 40.0 IP, 25 K, 19 BB)
GAME 2 | Saturday, Feb. 23 | 3:00 PM
Projected Starters
SHSU: LHP Marshall Wales (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 4.0 IP, 4 K, 3 BB)
DART: LHP Devin Milberg (2023 stats: 0-3, 4.50 ERA, 26.0 IP, 24 K, 18 BB)
GAME 3 | Sunday, Feb. 24 | 11:30 AM
Projected Starters
SHSU: RHP Miles Hellums (0-1, 27.00 ERA, 2.2 IP, 0 K, 2 BB)
DART: TBA
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats return to Don Sanders Stadium on Friday to open a three-game weekend series vs Dartmouth.
Friday's series opener is set to be aired on ESPN+, while Saturday and Sunday's games will be audio-only broadcasts on the Bearkat Sports Network. Fans can hear those broadcasts by going to GoBearkats.com or by downloading the Bearkat Sports app.
The Kats were series winners on Opening Weekend, but dropped the finale to the Cowboys before stubbing their toe in the first midweek of the year on Tuesday at Rice when the Owls rallied with five runs in the bottom of the eighth.
SERIES NOTES
- This will be the first-ever meeting on the diamond between the Bearkats and Big Green.
- The weekend will be only the second time the Kats have ever taken on a school from the Ivy League, and the first time an Ivy school has made its way to Don Sanders Stadium. The only other meeting between the Kats and an Ivy came in 1997 when Sam Houston lost 6-0 to Cornell at Holleman Field.
BREAKING DOWN THE PITCHING MATCHUPS
GAME 1: Coltin Atkinson will be looking to build on his Opening Night start vs Oklahoma State that saw him named CUSA Pitcher of the Week. He has typically been at his best when on the Kats' home turf, going turning in quality starts (6+ IP, less than 3 runs) in each of Sam Houston's last five starts of 2023. He will be opposed by Dartmouth righty Clark Gilmore who earned two of the Big Green's three wins a year ago. He was third on the 2023 Dartmouth roster with 40.0 innings pitched, with hIs best start coming at Brown when he threw a complete game with five strikeouts and no walks.
GAME 2: Saturday's middle game will pit a pair of lefties against one another, beginning with Marshall Wales for the Kats. The senior turned in a solid start vs Oklahoma State with 4.0 innings and only one unearned run allowed, putting the Kats in position to clinch the series. He'll be opposed by Devin Milberg, a senior for the Big Green who led the team with 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings in 2022 and posted a 4.50 ERA in 2023, the lowest among any Dartmouth pitcher on the roster with at least 2.0 innings of work a year ago.
GAME 3: The Big Green has not yet determined a starter for the series finale, but the Kats will give the ball to Miles Hellums once again. The right-hander took the loss in final game vs Oklahoma State and will be looking to rebound vs Dartmouth.
QUICK HITTERS
- The Kats have been the victim of the big inning early in 2024 with 23 of its 29 runs allowed having come in three innings in their last two games. Oklahoma State erupted for a 7-run third and an 11-run fifth on Sunday before Rice scored five times in the eighth inning on Tuesday.
- Sam Houston reached double-digits in hits for the first time on Tuesday at Rice with 11 with four players having multi-hit games.
- Four Kats – Walker Janek, Easton Loyd, Jeffrey David and Jace Martinez – have hit safely in all four games of the 2024 season.
- Coltin Atkinson was named the CUSA Pitcher of the Week on Monday after striking out six and walking none in 5.0 innings of work on Opening Night vs Oklahoma State. He picked up the win, the 20th of his career, making him the first Kat since Hayden Wesneski in 2019 to reach 20 career wins.
- The Kats started a pair of true freshmen – Jace Martinez and Blake Brown – on the left side of the infield for all three games vs Oklahoma State. It marked the first time the Kats started a pair of freshmen on the infield on Opening Day since 2019 vs Manhattan when Reese Johnson got the start at shortstop and Colton Cowser opened his Bearkat career at third base.
- Walker Janek had a pair of RBI in the season opener vs OSU, giving him exactly 100 RBI for his collegiate career. He is joined by Easton Loyd (108) as Bearkats on the roster with 100+ RBI.
- Excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the Bearkats enter 2024 having posted 12 consecutive seasons with a winning record, not putting up a losing mark since going 19-36 in 2010. That streak is the longest among teams in Conference USA and is second only to Texas A&M (16) among the 17 schools within the state of Texas playing Division I baseball.
- Sam Houston has won 102 games since the start of the 2021 season. Of teams in CUSA, only Dallas Baptist (126), Louisiana Tech (117) and Liberty (107) have won more during that span.
