LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Sam Houston Bearkats put together four scoring innings but did not muster up enough to get past McNeese on Tuesday, dropping a 5-4 decision at Joe Miller Ballpark.
Malachi Lott went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and saw time on the mound, retiring both hitters he faced; however, the Kats (21-16) were held scoreless for the final three frames of the night and left Lake Charles still in search of their first road midweek win of 2024.
Gavi Coldiron was solid in his start, going 5.0 innings, but allowed five runs – three earned – with four strikeouts on his way to falling to 3-3 on the season. Ryan Peterson came on to throw 2.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and only one hit allowed before turning it over to Lott in the eighth.
McNeese (17-18), meanwhile, put an end to a six-game losing streak with the win, and did so behind the bat of Conner Westenburg and the arm of Brock Barthelemy.
Westenburg finished the night 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and a pair of runs scored, while Barthelemey was nearly perfect in 3.2 shutout innings of relief. The righty earned his second save of the season and struck out five with no walks and only one hit allowed.
He was the final of five Cowboy arms to see the mound with Brian Shadrick getting the win with 0.2 innings in the middle of the contest.
Lott opened the scoring in the top of the second when blasted a 413-foot solo homer over the right-center field fence to give the Kats a 1-0 lead. But McNeese answered in the bottom of the third when Westenburg tripled into the left-center field gap to plate a pair, then came in to score on a Bearkat error on the play, making it a 3-1 McNeese lead.
Sam Houston got a run back on a fielder's choice off the bat of Jace Martinez in the fourth and then tied it up in the fifth when Walker Janek drew a 2-out walk, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on a sure single by Hunter Autrey.
But the game did not stay knotted for long as Cooper Hext got a rally going with a double into the right-field corner with one out in the fifth and one batter later he came in to score on another Bearkat error. That miscue set the Cowboys up for another run which they pushed home on a grounder, making it a 5-3 game.
Sam answered in the sixth with an RBI single in the sixth by Caleb Cotton, scoring Lott who had led off the inning with his third hit of the game. But Barthelemy entered after the single and made sure that was as close as the Kats would get as he only allowed an infield single by Jeffrey David the rest of the way.
UP NEXT
The Kats will return home to open a three-game series with Middle Tennessee, beginning Friday at Don Sanders Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. with the game to be aired on ESPN+.
