SUGAR LAND – The Sam Houston Bearkats' late rally came up just short on Tuesday night in the finale of the Don Sanders Cup series, falling 4-3 to Houston at Constellation Field.
The Bearkats' (30-22) saw their 6-game winning streak come to an end as the Cougars (26-26) retained the Don Sanders Cup, despite Sam Houston out-hitting UH by a 9-5 count.
Sam Houston trailed 4-0 entering the eighth inning before mounting a rally, scoring three times before Cougar reliever Justin Murray put a stop to things and ultimately retired the final four hitters he faced for his fifth save of the year.
Gavi Coldiron took the loss despite a quality start, going 6.0 innings with only four hits allowed and three strikeouts without a walk. He retired 13 straight Cougar hitters at one point of the game, but two of the four hits he allowed left the yard and accounted for three of the four Houston runs of the night.
Rome Shubert, Logan Hewitt, Miles Hellums and Wyatt Tucker combined to throw the final 3.0 innings, allowing just one unearned run.
For Houston, Richie Roman got the start and despite not having a clean inning in 4.0 frames, struck out six batters and ultimately left the game unscathed. Graysen Drezek earned his second win of the year with 3.0 shutout innings, striking out five and allowing just two hits.
The Kats left a pair of runners on in the first inning and the Cougars followed by jumping out to a 2-0 lead on an opposite-field, 2-run homer by Cary Arbolida in the second inning. An infield hit followed but Coldiron erased it with a double play grounder and went on to retire 13 in a row until a solo homer by Murray with two outs in the sixth inning.
Sam Houston continued to have scoring opportunities early against Roman, but stranded five more runners on the bases through the fourth inning with the Cougar righty leaving runners in scoring position in each of his four innings on the hill.
Houston got another run home on a wild pitch and an error in the top of the eighth, which proved to be a key insurance run to push the lead to 4-0. That was big as the Kats finally were able to scratch the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth, cutting the lead to 4-3 on a sacrifice fly from Easton Loyd and consecutive RBI singles by Jace Martinez and Caleb Cotton; however, Houston's Justin Murray was able to keep the Cougars in front by retiring Janek to end the inning with runners on the corners.
UP NEXT
The Kats return to Conference USA play for the final time in 2024 on Thursday when they open a 3-game series with Jax State beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Don Sanders Stadium.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Walker Janek doubled in the third and had an infield single in the seventh, giving him 200 career hits to his credit. He's the second Kat to reach the 200-hit mark this year, joining Easton Loyd in doing so.
- They are the first Kats to reach the milestone since the duo of Clayton Harp and Hunter Hearn did so in 2019.
- Gavi Coldiron's 6.0 innings was the third time this season he has compiled a start of at least that length, and his longest outing since going 6.1 innings at NM State in the finale of the Kats' CUSA-opening series in Las Cruces.
- Rome Shubert's scoreless seventh inning on the mound was his ninth consecutive scoreless appearance out of the Kats' pen, totaling 10.0 innings with seven strikeouts and only three walks.
- Jeffrey David singled to lead off the top of the eighth, extending his hit streak to 23 games. That streak ties the longest by a Kat this year, also a 23-gamer by Janek to open the season.
