ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – On an offensively-conducive night, the Sam Houston Bearkats pounded their way to a 23-14 win over the New Mexico Lobos in the opener of a 3-game weekend series at Santa Ana Star Field.
Playing in conditions which featured heavy winds consistently above 30 mph and gusting up to 50 mph, the Bearkats (18-13) pounded out 22 hits and had five players with at least three hits apiece as they put an end to a 4-game losing streak with its win over the Lobos (16-13).
Coltin Atkinson struck out five and did not walk a batter on the mound, but surrendered nine runs on 11 hits in 5.0 innings, which was still enough to up his record to 4-2 on the year with the win. Chandler David recorded his fourth save of the year by tossing the final 3.0 innings with a pair of strikeouts and one run allowed.
But it was the offense which stood out, led by Hunter Autrey's 3-for-6 night which featured his team-leading ninth home run and six RBI. Brady Christensen also homered and drove home five, and Walker Janek homered and had three RBI of his own while finishing a double short of the cycle.
Janek also scored four times, as did Easton Loyd who reached base five times and had three hits of his own, including a pair of doubles. Caleb Cotton also picked up three RBI on a double and a triple, , and Jake Tatom finished with three hits and a pair of RBI.
Freshman Jace Martinez drew three of the Kats' 10 walks, had a pair of hits and scored three times as well.
Sam Houston scored in each of the first three innings of the game, including a 10-run second inning to stake itself to a 13-0 lead. They then added two more in the third, three more in the fifth and four in the sixth before closing out the scoring with one in the eighth.
The Kats needed every bit of it as the Lobos never quite went away, cutting the lead to single digits on multiple occasions. UNM also finished with 16 hits of their own, but were only issued one free pass.
Starter Dayne Pengelly took the loss to fall to 3-2 after allowing 12 runs on 11 hits in just 1.2 innings of work.
UP NEXT
The Kats and Lobos will tangle again on Saturday in the middle game of the series. First pitch for Game 2 at Santa Ana Star Field is set for 3:00 p.m. CT and will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.
POSTGAME NOTES
- The 23 runs scored is tied for the third most in program history in a single game, and equals the 23 scored at UIW in 2016 as the most the Kats have ever scored in a road game.
- The Kats erupted for 10 runs in the top of the second inning, its second biggest inning of the season. The only inning with more runs was 12 runs in the third inning vs Baylor in an 18-3 win over the Bears.
- The 10-run inning marks the 10th time in program history the Kats have had a double-digit scoring inning, and only the second time it's happened twice in the same season. The last time the Kats had a pair of double-digit innings was 1996.
- Hunter Autrey had a pair of doubles and a homer in his first three at-bats of the game and he had five RBI to his credit through just two innings before finishing with six for the game.
- Walker Janek also threw out New Mexico's lone attempted base stealer of the game in the third inning and has now thrown out 11 of 20 for the season.
- The Kats finished with 22 hits for the game, a season high for 2024.
- Easton Loyd had three hits, including a pair of doubles, the 30th and 31st 2-baggers of his career.
