MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Sam Houston Bearkats held a lead midway through Saturday's contest at Middle Tennessee, but surrendered eight runs in the Blue Raiders' final three at-bats as the home team secured a series win with an 11-6 victory on Saturday at Reese Smith Jr. Field.
MTSU (22-28, 7-16 CUSA) got three runs across in the first two innings, but the Kats (12-38, 6-17 CUSA) evened it up with three scores in the third before Hunter Autrey gave the Kats a 4-3 lead with a solo home run in the top of the fifth.
Ryan Peterson got the start and exited after 5.0 innings with the lead and six strikeouts but took a no-decision after the Blue Raiders pushed across three runs with a 2-out rally against reliever Cole Marthiljohni in the sixth.
MTSU added two more an inning later on a 2-run homer from Eston Snider and then pushed across three more in the eighth to put the game away before surrendering an RBI double to Grant Nottlemann in the top of the ninth.
Autrey finished with a pair of hits and a walk, while Brady Christensen had a pair of hits as well. Ryan Franden had three of Sam Houston's 11 hits, including a 2-run double in the third.
On the mound, Marthiljohni took the loss to fall to 2-3 on the year, while MTSU's Cole Torbett earned his second win of the season.
UP NEXT
Sam Houston will look to salvage a game in Murfreesboro on Sunday. First pitch for the finale in is set for 1:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
