HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats took advantage of four UT Arlington errors and got shutdown pitching from its bullpen to win its fifth game in a row, 3-2, over the Mavericks on Wednesday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
A night after the bats were on point, it was the Sam Houston (7-2) arms who showed off, holding the Mavs (3-6) off the scoreboard after the second inning.
That was the type of effort that was needed on an evening that had the Mavs in line for a bullpen game, using seven pitchers with only starter Nicholas Robb going more than an inning.
Wyatt Tucker got his first start as a Bearkat and lasted 3.0 innings before giving way to the trio of Logan Hewitt, Malachi Lott and Chandler David. Hewitt did not allow a run or a hit in 2.0 innings, but it was Lott who earned his first win of the year with 2.2 innings of work, allowing just one hit and not walking a batter.
David picked up his first save of the season, striking out three and retiring four of the five batters he faced.
For UTA, Joe Steeber did not allow an earned run, but was the victim of being on the hill when the Mavs committed their fourth error of the night, allowing the eventual winning run to score. The loss was his first of the season.
On offense, Lane Brewster had a pair of hits and scored twice, while Easton Loyd and Hunter Autrey each had an RBI.
Three singles to open the second inning quickly got the Mavs in business, loading the bases with nobody out; however, Tucker was able to limit the damage with UTA only mustering runs on a hit batter and a walk before a well-timed double play kept the lead at just 2-0.
Sam Houston began to get that margin back in the third, taking advantage of a leadoff double by Lane Brewster when he came in to score no a grounder by Easton Loyd.
UTA continued with its merry-go-round of bullpen arms to get zeros in the fourth and fifth before Garrett Gearner surrendered leadoff hits to Jeffrey David and Hunter Autrey to open the sixth. A ground ball by Jake Tatom tied it up, but the Kats missed out on a golden opportunity to go in front when Gearner was able to retire both Blake Brown and Caleb Cotton with the go-ahead run on third base.
Meanwhile, Lott had come in to start the sixth and put up zeros in that frame and the seventh, moving in line for the win when the Kats scored again in the bottom of the inning on a single off the bat of Janek and the fourth Maverick error of the night, allowing Brewster to score.
UTA went on to get the tying run on base in the eighth, prompting Bearkat head coach Jay Sirianni to go to Chandler David who slammed the door shut on the threat with a 3-pitch punchout of Tyson Pointer before getting two more strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning.
The Kats will complete their 8-game homestand this weekend when they host St. John's for three games at Don Sanders Stadium. The series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday night.
