WACO – The Sam Houston Bearkats could not work out of an early deficit on Tuesday night in a 9-3 loss to the Baylor Bears at Baylor Ballpark. 

Sam Houston (24-17) fell behind in the opening frame and never was able to draw even, getting as close as 4-3 on a pair of runs in the sixth before a 4-run bottom of the seventh opened the game in Baylor's (19-20) favor.  

Malachi Lott had an RBI double and pitched an inning of relief, but it was Gavi Coldiron who took the loss to fall to 3-4 on the year after allowing four runs in 3.1 innings of work. 

Other RBI came from Jace Martinez and Caleb Cotton, but Lott's double was the only extra-base hit for the Kats while the Bears finished with three of their 10 hits going for extra bases.  

The Bears got four runs across in the first four frames, albeit in a variety of ways. A double steal in the first plated the game's first run, then an infield single and a balk upped the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third. One inning later Baylor made it 4-0 on a sacrifice fly to center field, a play which turned two outs thanks in large part to a highlight diving catch from Jake Tatom. 

But Sam Houston finally got the offense moving in the top of the fifth with three singles, the third coming off the bat of Caleb Cotton and plating Brady Christensen from third base with the first SHSU run of the night.  

Ryan Peterson responded with a shutdown bottom of the inning and Walker Janek then got the sixth inning going with a leadoff single. Malachi Lott followed with an RBI double and Jace Martinez had an RBI single, cutting the Baylor lead to 4-3. 

Baylor got one back in the bottom of the sixth, but Lott did a good job of preventing a bigger inning. The lefty entered with the bases loaded and nobody out and proceeded to get a double-play grounder and a fly ball to left field to keep the Bears with just a 5-3 advantage. 

But the Kats were not so fortunate an inning later as Baylor pushed across four runs, highlighted by a 2-run triple by Wesley Jordan off the batter's eye, to open the lead to 9-3.  

UP NEXT 
The Kats will now head to Louisiana Tech on Friday to open a key 3-game series with the Bulldogs. Each game from JC Love Field will be aired on ESPN+. 
 
POSTGAME NOTES 
- Easton Loyd's single in the fifth inning was the 200th hit of his career. He is the first Bearkat to reach the 200-hit mark for a career since Hunter Hearn and Clayton Harp each did so during the 2018 season.