Sam Houston (8-4) at Houston (7-4)
Schroeder Park (Houston)
---
Tuesday, March 5 | 6:30 PM | ESPN+
Projected Starters
SHSU: LHP Michael Watson (0-0, 1.59 ERA, 5.2 IP, 8 K, 2 BB)
HOU: TBA
---
HUNTSVILLE – The 2024 Don Sanders Cup series kicks off for Sam Houston on Tuesday when the Bearkats travel to Schroeder Park to battle the Houston Cougars.
The game can be watched on ESPN+ with Garrett Jones and Kyle Rogers on the call.
The game will be the 175th in the all-time history between the Cougars and the sixth playing of the Don Sanders Cup series, an annual three-game midweek battle between Sam Houston and Houston, which was established in 2017. The Kats won the Cup each of the first two seasons, while the Cougars have held it since 2019.
The Cougars will travel to Huntsville for the second game of the series on April 9, and the teams will again play at Constellation Field in Sugar Land on May 14.
The Kats are coming off a busy week that saw them get three wins in five tries, closing out an eight-game homestand. Tuesday's game in the Bayou City will be the second road game of the year for Sam Houston and will kick off an eight-game road stretch for the Bearkats which includes opening Conference USA play next week at NM State.
SERIES NOTES vs HOUSTON
- The Kats will be looking to reclaim the Don Sanders Cup for the first time since 2018.
- The Kats will be trying to win their first game at Schroeder Park since a 12-2 victory over the Cougars in 2017.
- A 9-3 win by the Bearkats in 2023 in Huntsville snapped a 6-game losing skid in the series for SHSU, its longest vs the Cougars since dropping 13 in a row between the 1999 and 2008 seasons.
QUICK HITTERS
- Walker Janek is riding 12-game hitting streak to open 2024 and has hit in 16 straight games dating back to the end of the 2023 campaign. It is the longest hit streak by a Kat to open a season since Colton Cowser hit in the first 12 games of his freshman season in 2019.
- Within Janek's .417 average are six doubles, which is tops among CUSA hitters early in the year.
- Michael Watson is tentatively scheduled to get his first start in a Bearkat uniform and is coming off his best outing of the young season, striking out six hitters and not allowing a hit or a walk in 3.0 relief innings on Friday vs St. John's.
- The Kats may have dropped two of three games to St. John's over the weekend, but the pitching staff was solid throughout. Sam Houston got quality starts from both Coltin Atkinson and Marshall Wales and as a staff finished with 32 strikeouts and only nine walks allowed in 28.0 innings of work in the series.
