HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats used a 5-run sixth inning to deliver a late knockout blow and clinch their second consecutive weekend series on Saturday, cruising past Dartmouth, 8-3, at Don Sanders Stadium.
Freshman Jace Martinez had three extra-base hits and starting pitcher Marshall Wales was on top of his game, punching out six Big Green (0-2) hitters in 6.0 innings of work for his first win of the season.
In all the Kats (4-2) had five extra-base hits for the game with Jeffrey David and Walker Janek also adding doubles. Janek finished his day 2-for-4 with an RBI and a career-best three stolen bases.
Big Green starter Devin Milberg lasted 5.0 innings, but surrendered three runs on four hits in being hit with his first loss of the year. He gave way to Nate Isler when the game was 3-1, but the righty was tagged for all five runs in the sixth inning when the Kats broke the game open.
Easton Loyd did not pick up a hit for the first time in 2024, but drove in a pair of runs with sacrifice flies and was one of five Kats with a run driven in for the game.
Sam Houston wasn't able to cash in on a Janek double in the first inning, but scored on wild pitches in the second and third innings after doubles from both David and Martinez for an early 2-0 lead.
Dartmouth got a run back in the fifth, but Loyd got it back with a sacrifice fly that followed a triple by Martinez into the wall in right center field.
One inning later the Kats broke it open, using a string of five straight 1-out hits to initialize the rally. RBI singles by Blake Brown and Lane Brewster were followed by Martinez's second double of the game, scoring Brown to up the lead to 6-1. Martinez and Brewster would later come in on a sac fly from Loyd and an RBI single to right field by Janek.
From there the Kats leaned on its pen, starting with Logan Hewitt who struck out the side in the top of the seventh, his lone inning of work. Freshman Noah Kendrick made his Bearkat debut in the eighth, while lefty Michael Watson finished things off with work in the ninth.
The Kats will go after a sweep of the Big Green on Sunday beginning at 11:30 a.m. at The Don. The game is set to be aired with an audio broadcast on the Bearkat Sports Network and the Bearkat Sports app.
GAME NOTES
- In addition to picking up a pair of hits, Walker Janek swiped three bags on Saturday against the Big Green. It is just the second time since 2016 a Bearkat has stolen three bases in a single game, the last being Joe Redfield in 2023 at Texas Tech.
- Jace Martinez turned in his best offensive day as a Bearkat, going 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three extra-base hits and an RBI. He sandwiched an RBI triple in the fifth around doubles in his first and third at-bats. He's the first Bearkat freshman with three extra-base hits in a single game since 2018 when Jack Rogers had a double and two homers at UIW on May 19.
- Bearkat starter Marshall Wales tied his career long with 6.0 innings on the mound, punching out six Big Green hitters along the way. The punchout total was just one shy of his career high of seven, set vs Oregon State in the 2023 Baton Rouge Regional.
- Walker Janek and Jeffrey David are the two remaining Kats to hit safely in every game of 2024.
