SAN MARCOS – An early home run held up for the Sam Houston Bearkats as they completed a weekend sweep of Texas State with a 3-1 win on Sunday at Bobcat Ballpark.
Walker Janek clubbed a 2-run home run in the third inning and Gavi Coldiron shut out the Bobcats (7-8) through 6.0 innings as the Kats (11-5) finished off a sweep in San Marcos for the first time in program history.
Things got dicey in the ninth as the Kats were just one out away from a shutout; however, Texas State's Aaron Lugo connected on a solo homer to get the Bobcats on the board and each of the next two batters reached base.
But reliever Wyatt Tucker came in from the pen and struck out pinch hitter Cade Manning to end the game and garner his first save as Bearkat. Coldiron earned the win after striking out four hitters and allowing four hits in his stint on the mound to move to 2-0 on the year.
The Kats also got a clean inning of relief from Rome Shubert and Malachi Lott retired the first five hitters he faced before allowing the homer to Lugo in the ninth.
Sam Houston finished with eight total hits, including three from Hunter Autrey and a pair from Lane Brewster.
The Kats couldn't do anything with a second-inning double from Autrey, but a 2-out single by Easton Loyd in the third inning extended the frame and brought up Janek. The Bearkat backstop then blasted an 0-1 pitch from Brown out to left-center field, his second longball of the year, to put the Kats up 2-0.
Coldiron then stranded a pair of Bobcats in the bottom of the inning and punched out two hitters in both the fourth and fifth innings before ultimately working through the sixth and exiting with that same 2-0 advantage.
The Kats tacked on another run in the seventh, without the benefit of a hit when pinch runner Caleb Cotton trotted home from third on a wild pitch from Nicholas Holbrook after a pair of walks and a stolen base set the Kats up for the score.
The Kats next head to College Station for a Tuesday midweek vs the undefeated and nationally-ranked Texas A&M Aggies. First pitch from Blue Bell Park is set for 6:00 p.m. with the game set to be aired on ESPN+.
POSTGAME NOTES
- The series was the 13th weekend series all-time between Sam Houston and Texas State played in San Marcos, dating back to 1988; however, the sweep is the first time the Bearkats have swept the Bobcats.
- The weekend marks the first time in the Division I era the Bearkats have completed a non-conference, 3-game sweep of an opponent on the road.
- The sweep is also the first time in the Division I era for Texas State that the Bobcats have been swept in a non-conference home series.
- Walker Janek's 2-run homer in the third inning extended his season-opening hit streak to 16 games. He is still the lone Kat to have hit safely in all 16 games this year and has hit in 20 consecutive games overall, dating back to the end of the 2023 season.
- His hit streak is the longest such streak by a Bearkat to open a season since Todd Sebek hit safely in 18 consecutive games to start the 2008 season.
- The homer was the 22nd of Janek's career. He needs two more homers to move into the career top 10 in long balls at Sam Houston.
- Hunter Autrey doubled in his first two at-bats of Sunday's game, marking the first time in his career he has had multiple doubles in a single game.
- Autrey finished 3-for-3 with a walk, reaching base in all four plate appearances. It is his second 3-hit game of the season and the third of his career.
