HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats pushed their way back into the win column on Friday night with a 7-2 win over Dartmouth in the series opener at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Kats (3-2) will look to clinch their second weekend set of the year on Saturday in Game 2, which is set for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch.
Hunter Autrey got his first start of the season and led the offense with a 3-for-4 night which included a double and a pair of RBI. Malachi Lott also connected on the Kats' first homer of the year and Jake Tatom had a pair of hits and scored twice as part of a 10-hit attack from the SHSU offense.
That was more than enough for the pitching duo of Coltin Atkinson and Wyatt Tucker who combined to strike out eight and walk only one on the mound. Atkinson moved to 2-0 on the year with his second win, picking up four strikeouts and allowing one earned run in 5.2 innings.
He then handed the ball over to Tucker who continued his impressive start as a Bearkat, going the final 3.1 innings for the save. He scattered four hits, but did not allow a walk or a run.
Clark Gilmore took the loss for the Big Green (0-1), a team making its 2024 debut after not playing games last weekend. He allowed six of the Kats' seven runs in 4.1 innings of work before reliever Eddie Albert went the rest of the way.
Dartmouth swung it well in their season debut, outhitting the Kats 12-10, led by Nathan Cmeyla's 3-for-5 night.
The Kats went up quickly in the first with a pair of runs off of Gilmore, taking advantage of a leadoff double by Easton Loyd with 2-out RBI singles by both Tatom and Jeffrey David. Dartmouth immediately answered to tie it up with two runs in the top of the second, but Lott gave the Kats the lead for good just two batters into the third when he ambushed the first pitch he saw from Gilmore and deposited it onto the right-field berm for a 2-run homer to put SHSU up 4-2.
Sam Houston extended the lead even further in the fifth when Autrey slammed a 2-run double off the left-center field wall and came in one batter later on a sacrifice fly from freshman Blake Brown.
GAME NOTES
- The game on Friday was the first ever for the Kats vs Dartmouth, and only the second game ever for SHSU vs a school from the Ivy League.
- Atkinson is now 2-0 on the year, but more impressively is now 12-1 in his career in games at Don Sanders Stadium. His lone loss at The Don came in the series finale vs UTSA on February 18, 2021.
- Wyatt Tucker has now made a team-high three appearances out of the Bearkat pen. He has tossed 7.2 scoreless innings with seven punchouts and no walks issued or runs allowed.
- Easton Loyd, Walker Janek and Jeffrey David have now all hit safely in every game of 2024 for the Kats.
