HUNTSVILLE – The No. 15 DBU Patriots hit four home runs to account for all of their runs on their way to a 6-2 win over Sam Houston on Saturday afternoon in the second game of a weekend series at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Kats (15-9, 2-3 CUSA) had an early 2-0 lead, but were unable to break things open in the early innings despite five free passes and a hit batter by Patriot (19-3, 2-0 CUSA) starter Jaron DeBerry. The right-hander then settled in, finishing with eight strikeouts and only two hits allowed in 5.2 innings to move to 3-0 on the season.
Meanwhile, Gavi Coldiron was making his first Saturday start of the season for Sam Houston and looked strong early on before a 3-run homer by Chayton Krauss with two outs in the third inning turned the tide.
Coldiron finished with four strikeouts in 3.1 innings on a day that saw the Kats' pitching staff punch out a dozen Patriots, but he was still saddled with his first loss of 2024. Rome Shubert turned in 1.2 scoreless innings of relief before Chandler David went the rest of the way, punching out a career-high seven DBU hitters in 4.0 innings of 1-run relief.
DeBerry carried the early load for DBU, but it was lefty Tyler Schott who was even better out of the pen as he retired all 10 hitters he faced with three strikeouts to earn his first save of the year.
The Kats drew five free passes from DeBerry in the opening two innings, helping stake itself to a 2-0 lead. The first run came on a 2-out RBI single in the first inning off the bat of Hunter Autrey and an inning later the Kats used a hit batter and a pair of free passes to load the sacks before Malachi Lott drew a walk to force home Easton Lott.
But DeBerry limited the damage and his offense picked him up in the third in big way when Chaton Krauss surged the Patriots in front with a 2-out, 3-run homer over the batter's eye in center field. DBU used the longball twice in the following inning to tack on a pair of runs to the advantage on solo homers from both Michael Dattalo and Nate Humphreys.
Shubert came in and held the Patriots where they were for 1.2 scoreless innings of relief before the longball struck again in the seventh on a solo smash from Ethan Mann to right field off of Chandler David to cap the scoring.
UP NEXT
The Kats and Patriots will close the series out at Don Sanders Stadium on Sunday. First pitch of Game 3 of the series is set for 1:00 p.m. The game and will be streamed on ESPN+.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Walker Janek walked in each of his first two at-bats of the game before going hitless in his final two at-bats to put an end to his 23-game hit streak to open the season. The 23 games is the longest by a Kat to open a season in program history, while the 27 games in a row dating back to 2023 is the third longest in program history.
- Chandler David's seven strikeouts was a career high as a Bearkat, surpassing his previous high of five. His Division I high is nine vs Northwestern State, set in 2022 during his time at UIW.
