LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Sam Houston offense exploded for 14 unanswered runs and run-ruled NM State in eight innings for the second straight day, 19-8, on Saturday at Askew Field.
Hunter Autrey homered twice and drove in a career-high eight runs and was one of six Bearkats with multi-hit games. Jace Martinez delivered three hits and a pair of RBI, while Walker Janeka and Malachi Lott each had three RBI apiece.
The Bearkat (13-6, 2-0 CUSA) offensive numbers were made all the more impressive after NM State (9-10, 0-2 CUSA) starter Josh Sharman retired each of the first 10 hitters of the game; however, the Kats put up three runs in the fourth and tormented six Aggie arms over the final four innings, finishing with 18 total hits.
Offense was the name of the game on Saturday for both teams, but Wyatt Tucker proved to be the piece the Kats needed as he entered with two outs in the fifth and the Kats down 8-5 and held NM State right there with 2.1 scoreless innings of relief with three strikeouts to earn his second win of the year. Freshman Ryan Peterson then entered to finish things off, throwing a perfect eighth with a pair of punchouts.
Tyler Hoeft was the losing pitcher for NM State, allowing five runs without retiring a batter in the fifth.
The Aggies, who were shut out and held to just two hits on Friday night, quickly got on the board with a run in the first and added another in the third before Bearkat starter Miles Hellums was able to put an end to the inning.
Sam Houston then got going when Janek blasted a solo homer out to center field, his fourth in as many games, to get the Kats on the board. Three batters later Autrey's day got going in a loud way with his first homer, a 2-run blast which put the Kats up 3-2.
However, Preston Godfrey quickly tied it back up with a leadoff homer in the fourth and Keith Jones II put them back in front with an RBI double.
That inning began a see-saw affair throughout the middle innings with the lead changing hands three more times until a 5-run sixth inning for the Kats did the trick. Each of the first five hitters of the inning reached against Hoeft, with a 2-run single from Autrey putting the Kats ahead for good at 10-8.
Tucker then worked around a pair of batters on base in the bottom of the inning and the Kats responded with six more runs in the seventh to open the game up. But it wasn't until Autrey's second homer of the day, a 3-run shot in the eighth, that the Kats were able to put the run-rule into effect once again.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Friday and Saturday's run-rule victories marks the first time the Kats have won consecutive games in run-rule fashion since 2011 when they defeated UTSA in seven innings by scores of 13-2 and 15-1.
- Walker Janek's fourth-inning home run extended his season-opening hit streak to 19 games. He is still the lone Kat to have hit safely in all 19 games this year and has hit in 23 consecutive games overall, dating back to the end of the 2023 season.
- His hit streak ties the longest streak by a Bearkat to open a season in recorded history.
- Janek's homer marked the fourth straight game in which he has homered. It was also his 25th career dinger, tying him with Karl Krailo for eighth place all-time at Sam Houston.
- Hunter Autrey delivered a season-high 5 RBI, the second game in his career with 5 or more RBI. It is his most since setting his career high with 6 RBI at Abilene Christian in 2022. The day also marked the first multi-HR game of his career.
- The Bearkats had five stolen bases on Saturday, a new season high.
