Sam Houston (30-22, 10-11 CUSA) vs Jax State (18-31, 5-16 CUSA)
Don Sanders Stadium (Huntsville)
Thursday, May 16 | 6:30 PM
Projected Starters
SHSU: RHP Coltin Atkinson (5-4, 3.68 ERA, 74.2 IP, 71 K, 23 BB)
JSU: LHP Collin Woodham (3-2, 6.75 ERA, 24.0 IP, 14 K, 6 BB)
Friday, May 17 | 6:30 PM
Projected Starters
SHSU: LHP Michael Watson (5-1, 4.05 ERA, 60.0 IP, 75 K, 22 BB)
JSU: RHP. Jackson Sleeper (1-3, 8.18 ERA, 55.0 IP, 57 K, 21 BB)
Saturday, May 18 | 1:00 PM
Projected Starters
SHSU: TBA
JSU: LHP Will Baker (3-5, 5.34 ERA, 60.2 IP, 42 K, 18 BB)
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats will close out the 2024 regular season this weekend when it hosts Jax State for three games, beginning Thursday at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Kats enter the weekend having won six of their last seven games overall and having clinched a spot in next week's CUSA Tournament.
Jax State, meanwhile, will be playing to extend their season as they are currently on the outside looking in for Ruston next week. The Gamecocks would need to sweep all three games from Sam Houston, along with Dallas Baptist sweeping Middle Tennessee for JSU to earn the tournament's final spot.
Each can be heard on the Bearkat Sports Network. It can also be followed on Statbroadcast.
SENIOR DAY
- The Kats will honor its 13-member senior class prior to the start of play on Saturday in the series finale.
PROMOTIONS FOR THE FINAL WEEKEND AT THE DON
With it being the final weekend of 2024 at The Don, the following will be available all weekend, courtesy of Sam Houston hospitality:
- $5 beer & cocktails (all weekend)
- $1 hot dogs (Thursday)
- $1 nachos (Friday)
- $1 popcorn buckets (Saturday)
WHAT TO KNOW FOR THE WEEKEND
- Thursday's series opener will be the second meeting ever on the diamond between the Bearkats and Gamecocks.
- The previous meeting came 38 years ago, to the day, when the Kats and Jax State battled in Troy, Ala., in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional. The Kats won, 8-6, to move on to the finals where they fell to Troy.
- The Kats clinched a spot in next week's CUSA Tournament with last weekend's sweep at FIU. No seeds for the tournament have been locked in with 1 weekend left to play. Pending the weekend's results, Sam Houston could be as high as the No. 4 seed and as low as the No. 7 seed in the double-elimination even to be played in Ruston, La.
- The with a 30-22 record entering the weekend, the Bearkats have secured another winning season. Excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season, 2024 is the 13th consecutive season with a winning record for Sam Houston who has not put up a losing mark since going 19-36 in 2010. That streak is the longest among teams in CUSA, and is second only Texas A&M (17) among the 17 schools within the state of Texas playing Division I baseball.
BEARKAT QUICK HITTERS
- Jeffrey David enters Thursday with a team-best, 23-game hitting streak and has reached in 26 games overall. It is tied for the longest hit streak by a Kat this year, along with the 23-gamer put together by Walker Janek to open the season.
- The longest hit streak in school history is a 34-gamer by Terry Pirtle in 1987. The second longest is a 26-gamer by Chris Andreas in 2010, a mark which David could catch this weekend vs the Gamecocks.
- Janek has thrown out 15 of 29 attempted base stealers this season and is doing it at the plate as well. He homered in all 3 games at FIU, giving him a team-best 17 home runs this year, which is tied for the CUSA lead. It also gives him 37 for his career, which puts him all alone in third place all-time at SHSU. Each of the two players ahead of him played 4 years for the Bearkats, while Janek is just in his third season.
- As good as Janek has been against the run game, the Kats have been just as good when running themselves. Sam Houston has swiped 90 bags this year while allowing just 23 steals to its opponents. The Kats have four players with at least a dozen swipes this year, the first time that has happened in recorded program history.
- Should the Kats get 10 more steals before the season's end, it would mark the first time since the 1986 and 1987 seasons in which the Kats have totaled 100 stolen bases in consecutive seasons.
- The Kats enter the weekend with 19 triples, a total which leads CUSA and ranks 12th in the country. On the pitching side Sam Houston is issuing just 3.06 walks per 9 innings, a mark which also leads CUSA and ranks fifth in the nation.
