RUSTON, La. – The Sam Houston Bearkats dropped their opening game of the CUSA Tournament on Thursday, falling 9-3 to the Liberty Flames at JC Love Field.  

The Kats (33-23) and Flames (23-32) were originally set to play on Wednesday before weather pushed the game back to late Thursday morning. Sam Houston had an early lead and looked to be in control of a pitcher's duel before Liberty scored four of five runs with two outs in the fifth and sixth innings to take control. 

Coltin Atkinson was dialed in early and had five strikeouts through 4.2 innings before a 2-out, 2-run homer by Camden Troyer surged the Flames ahead. Troyer finished with a big day, driving in six runs on a pair of homers and a 2-run single, helping the Flames give plenty of support for starter Cole Hertzler, who evened his record at 6-6 on the year with the win. The Flames' righty struck out five and walked three in 7.2 innings of work. 

Atkinson fell to 6-5 with the loss after having four runs charged to his ledger.  

Atkinson and Hertzler threw up matching zeros in the first two frames before the Kats were able to break through, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Hunter Autrey.  

But the Kats were not able to add on any more and the Flames put together a 2-out rally of their own in the fifth, starting when Cam Foster singled to snap a string of eight straight hitters retired by the Bearkat righty. Troyer followed by blasting a 2-run homer off the batter's eye in center field.  

Liberty nearly added even more in the inning, loading the bases on two more singles and an error before Atkinson was able to minimize the damage. But an inning later he ran into trouble again as the first two hitters of the inning reached base and the Kats went to Logan Hewitt out of the pen after a pop up from Brayden Horton.  

But once again the Flames were able to come through with two outs, getting a single from Troyer to plate a pair and another hit from Tanner Marsh to up the lead to 5-1. 

Liberty added two more runs in the seventh before capping its scoring on Troyer's second 2-run blast of the day in the top of the ninth. The Kats got a 2-run homer from Malachi Lott in the bottom of the ninth for the final runs of the game. 
 
UP NEXT 
The Kats will now drop into the elimination portion of the bracket where they will play No. 8 Middle Tennessee at 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning. 

Each game of the CUSA Tournament can be heard on the Bearkat Sports Network with Carlos Zimmermann on the call. Additionally, each game leading up to the championship will be streamed and available to watch on ESPN+.  

The title game of the CUSA Tournament will be aired live on the CBS Sports Network. 
 
POSTGAME NOTES 
- Coltin Atkinson finished with five strikeouts in his effort with his third-inning strikeout of Tanner Marsh being the 250th of his career. He ranks second all-time at SHSU in career strikeouts, making him one of only two players in Bearkat history with 250 strikeouts. 

- Jeffrey David went hitless, snapping his hit streak at 26 games. That streak ends as the longest of the season by a Bearkat and tied with Chris Andreas' 26-gamer in 2010 as the second longest in a single season.