HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats surged their way back into the race for Conference USA Tournament on Saturday, sweeping a pair of games from Liberty at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Kats (11-36, 5-15 CUSA) clinched their first series win of the season with the sweep and now trail the Flames (26-21, 7-13 CUSA) by two games for the final spot in the league tournament with seven league contests to play.
Sam Houston dropped all four games to Liberty in 2024, but looked like a team with newfound energy throughout Saturday, leading for 17 of 18 total innings played.
The teams will conclude the series on Sunday with a noon start at The Don.
GAME 1
Sam Houston 8, Liberty 7
The Kats got home runs from Blake Brown and Brady Christensen, along with strong pitching from Noah Kendrick and Devin Bennett to hold on for the win the opener.
It was the first series-opening win of the year for Sam Houston and they took the lead in the second inning when Brown broke a 1-1 tie with a 2-out grand slam, his second homer in as many games.
Kendrick made that stand up into the seventh inning before the Flames struck for four runs, tying things at 6-6. Christensen then answered the call in the bottom of the inning, blasting a solo homer to right field to put SHSU back up 7-6. They added a run an inning later on Grant Nottlemann, his second RBI and second hit of the game.
That run proved to be pivotal when Landon Scilley connected on an opposite-field solo shot to draw the Flames back to within a run in the ninth. Liberty went on to get the tying run into scoring position before Bennett closed things out, finishing with 2.2 innings of work to earn his first win as a Kat.
GAME 2
Sam Houston 7, Liberty 1
The Kats got two RBI from Christensen and three from Sam Lee in the day's finale, while Ryan Peterson and Cole Marthiljohni combined to not allow an earned run in the series clincher.
Ty Marthiljohni's RBI double in the second inning put SHSU up 1-0 and Christensen plated two more with a 2-out double of his own, the first of two hits in the game for the Bearkats' right fielder.
Peterson did the rest, going 7.0 innings with five strikeouts while only allowing three hits to earn his second win of 2025. That bettered Liberty starter Ben Blair who gave up a season-high five runs in 5.2 frames, punching out six to fall to 5-3.
Lee extended the lead to 5-0 with a 2-run single in the fifth and was delivered a sac fly in the seventh to total his career-high in RBI. Hunter Autrey also finished the game 3-for-5, scoring twice.
