SUGAR LAND – For the first time since 2018, the Don Sanders Cup is coming back to Don Sanders Stadium.
The Sam Houston Bearkats took both ends of games played vs Houston at Constellation Field on Tuesday, coming back from a 9-6 deficit in a halted game to win 12-11 before picking up a 5-4 win in 12 innings over the Cougars in the nightcap to claim the season series and the annual trophy for the first time since 2018.
The Kats (6-15) scored five times in their first at-bat of the day and kept the pressure on Houston (11-9) for the bulk of the afternoon and evening to secure consecutive wins for the first time this season. Hunter Autrey delivered the game-winning RBI in each game, while Danny Valadez pitched in both ends of the abbreviated twinbill to earn the victory in relief both times.
GAME 1 (Game completed from 3/12 start)
Sam Houston 12, Houston 11
Hunter Autrey delivered a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to score Ty Marthiljohni and give the Sam Houston Bearkats a 12-11 win in the resumption of a game begun on March 12 in Huntsville.
The Kats trailed 9-6 going into the bottom of the fifth last week at Don Sanders Stadium before play was halted due to weather. The teams agreed to continue play at Constellation Field and the Kats wasted zero time getting going, jumping on the Cougars for five runs in the bottom of the fifth to take an 11-9 lead.
Connor Zaruba took the ball to open the resumption of play and held Houston off the board until surrendering a game-tying, 2-run homer to Xavier Perez in the top of the eighth inning.
Danny Valadez then put up a zero in the ninth and Marthiljohni put the Kats in business with a leadoff double off Cougar reliever Brady Fuller in the left-center field gap. A walk and a wild pitch followed, setting things up for Autrey who blasted a pitch from Alex Solis into the right-field corner for the game winner.
Autrey finished with a 3-for-5 game which included three RBI, while Marthiljohni delivered an identical line. Addison Smith finished with four hits, while Grant Nottlemann had three hits and scored twice in what totaled as a 15-hit output for the Kats.
Valadez earned his first win as a Kat after 3.0 innings from Zaruba, while Fuller fell to 0-1 for the Cougars.
GAME 2
Sam Houston 5, Houston 4
The Kats never trailed in the evening game, but had to fight off the Cougars every step of the way before outlasting them in the first extra-inning game between the teams since 1992.
Sam Houston scored single runs in the tops of the second, fifth, seventh and 11th innings but were unable to throw up a zero in the bottom half of any of those frames. That all changed in the 11th when Autrey delivered an RBI single with one out to score Parker Blackman to push the lead to 5-4 and Cam Diaz retired three of the four hitters he faced in the bottom half of the inning with a pair of strikeouts to earn his first save of the year.
Autrey finished 3-for-6 in the game with a pair of RBI, but the pitching staff more than held its own as Garrett Baumann got his first start and logged 5.0 innings with only two runs allowed before Cole Marthiljohni punched out six Cougars without a walk in 4.2 frames before exiting in the 10th. Valadez got through the remainder of the 10th and allowed a run in the 11th, but still earned his second win of the day and of the season.
Houston's Tre Broussard was a pest in the late innings, reaching base and scoring the game-tying runs in both the eighth and 11th to answer a go-ahead RBI single from Blake Brown in the eighth and a go-ahead solo homer from Addison Smith in the 11th, but Diaz was able to set him down on strikes in the final frame.
UP NEXT
The Kats will return to Don Sanders Stadium this weekend to open Conference USA play vs Louisiana Tech, beginning Friday nigth at 6:30 p.m. Both Friday and Satuday's games can be seen on ESPN+
