Tuesday, February 24
Huntsville
6:00 PM
4-4
4
vs
5
Houston
6-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Houston
0
0
0
1
2
2
0
0
0
5
8
0
Sam Houston
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
4
4
0
Photo by: Grant Sides
Cougars take Sanders Cup opener
2/24/2026 9:44:00 PM | Baseball
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkats made it interesting late, but the Houston Cougars held on for a 5-4 win on Tuesday night at Don Sanders Stadium in the opening game of the season's Don Sanders Cup Series.
The game marked the fifth time in the last six meetings between the teams that the game has been decided by one run.
Sam Houston (4-4) led 2-0 early on, but Cougar (6-2) reliever Alex Solis shut the Kats down for 5.0 perfect innings of relief to earn his second win of the year thanks to his offense responding with five unanswered runs in the game's middle innings.
Hunter Alvord delivered his first homer as a Bearkat in the eighth inning, cutting the Houston lead to 5-4 before Tyler Bryan entered and struck out all four batters he faced to earn his third save of the year.
The Kats drew six walks against Cougar pitching, but managed just four hits and punched out 15 total times.
Tate Hickman got the start and was solid, allowing a pair of runs with three strikeouts in taking a no-decision. Jakob Holzer was saddled with the loss in relief, falling to 0-1 on the year.
The Kats held an early 2-0 lead after plating a pair of runs in the third. Cougar starter Caden Cooper set the table for the SHSU offense with three straight walks to open the inning and Caleb Cotton and Blake Brown each followed with sacrifice flies to plate runs.
Hickman made that hold up early on, putting up three scoreless innings before Houston scored in the fourth on a grounder by Antonelli Savattere, scoring Riley Jackson who had doubled to open the inning.
Houston then went ahead an inning later on 2-out RBI hits from Xavier Perez and Cade Climie. One inning later Blake Maxcey opened the game up for Houston with his first home run of the year, a no-doubt 2-run blast to left field off Holzer that pushed the game to a 5-2 Cougar advantage.
Alvord made things interesting when he blasted a 2-run homer with two outs in the eighth off Houston's Connor Udland, trimming the lead to 5-4. Wes Baker followed with a walk, prompting the Cougars to go to Bryan out of the pen and the righty proceeded to punch out Jace Martinez to end the inning before striking out the side in the ninth.
UP NEXT
The Bearkats will hit the road this weekend and stay within the Big 12 when they travel to Stillwater, Okla. for a 3-game series at Oklahoma State. The series opener begins Friday a 4:00 p.m. at O'Brate Stadium in a game set to air on ESPN+.
The game marked the fifth time in the last six meetings between the teams that the game has been decided by one run.
Sam Houston (4-4) led 2-0 early on, but Cougar (6-2) reliever Alex Solis shut the Kats down for 5.0 perfect innings of relief to earn his second win of the year thanks to his offense responding with five unanswered runs in the game's middle innings.
Hunter Alvord delivered his first homer as a Bearkat in the eighth inning, cutting the Houston lead to 5-4 before Tyler Bryan entered and struck out all four batters he faced to earn his third save of the year.
The Kats drew six walks against Cougar pitching, but managed just four hits and punched out 15 total times.
Tate Hickman got the start and was solid, allowing a pair of runs with three strikeouts in taking a no-decision. Jakob Holzer was saddled with the loss in relief, falling to 0-1 on the year.
The Kats held an early 2-0 lead after plating a pair of runs in the third. Cougar starter Caden Cooper set the table for the SHSU offense with three straight walks to open the inning and Caleb Cotton and Blake Brown each followed with sacrifice flies to plate runs.
Hickman made that hold up early on, putting up three scoreless innings before Houston scored in the fourth on a grounder by Antonelli Savattere, scoring Riley Jackson who had doubled to open the inning.
Houston then went ahead an inning later on 2-out RBI hits from Xavier Perez and Cade Climie. One inning later Blake Maxcey opened the game up for Houston with his first home run of the year, a no-doubt 2-run blast to left field off Holzer that pushed the game to a 5-2 Cougar advantage.
Alvord made things interesting when he blasted a 2-run homer with two outs in the eighth off Houston's Connor Udland, trimming the lead to 5-4. Wes Baker followed with a walk, prompting the Cougars to go to Bryan out of the pen and the righty proceeded to punch out Jace Martinez to end the inning before striking out the side in the ninth.
UP NEXT
The Bearkats will hit the road this weekend and stay within the Big 12 when they travel to Stillwater, Okla. for a 3-game series at Oklahoma State. The series opener begins Friday a 4:00 p.m. at O'Brate Stadium in a game set to air on ESPN+.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Alex Solis (2-0)
L: Holzer, Jakob (0-1)
S: Tyler Bryan (3)
Batting:
2B: McClane Helton 1 ; Cade Climie 1 ; Riley Jackson 1
HR: Dylan Maxcey 1
RBI: Xavier Perez 1 ; Cade Climie 1 ; Antonelli Savattere 1 ; Dylan Maxcey 2
SH: Tyler Cox 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Xavier Perez 1 ; Riley Jackson 1 ; Blake Fields 1 ; Dylan Maxcey 1 ; Jackson LaLima 1
SB: Xavier Perez 1
CS: Antonelli Savattere 1
Batting:
HR: Alvord, Hunter 1
RBI: Alvord, Hunter 2 ; Cotton, Caleb 1 ; Brown, Blake 1
SF: Cotton, Caleb 1 ; Brown, Blake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Corcoran, Cade 1 ; Alvord, Hunter 2 ; Baker, Wes 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
IF
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IF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
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