Series Preview: vs DBU

Games 33-35 | Don Sanders Stadium (Huntsville)
Sam Houston (14-18, 4-8 CUSA) vs DBU (18-15, 8-4 CUSA)

Projected Starters
GAME 1
Friday, April 10 – 6:30 p.m. CT (ESPN+)
SHSU: RHP Ryan Peterson (3-3, 1.99 ERA, 49.2 IP, 64 K, 16 BB)
DBU: LHP Liam Watt (4-1, 3.21 ERA, 42.0 IP, 33 K, 7 BB)

GAME 2
Saturday, April 11 – 2:00 p.m. CT (ESPN+)
SHSU: TBA
DBU: RHP Jared Schaeffer (3-0, 5.11 ERA, 37.0 IP, 29 K, 14 BB)

GAME 3
Sunday, April 12 – 12:00 p.m. CT (ESPN+)
SHSU: TBA
DBU: TBA

HUNTSVILLE – Sam Houston will look to get back in the win column this weekend when it hosts DBU for a key CUSA weekend series, beginning Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium.

The Bearkats have dropped six in a row since claiming its weekend series over WKU two weeks ago, including dropping all three games at Missouri State last weekend in Springfield. DBU, meanwhile, has won all three of its league series to date but has yet to complete a weekend sweep, thus trailing league-leading Jax State by four games.

Each game this weekend is scheduled to be aired on ESPN+. Jason Barfield and Leah Vann are slated for the call on both Friday and Saturday with Collin Neil stepping into the play-by-play chair on Sunday.

All Bearkat Baseball games can be followed via live stats on Statbroadcast. Fans are encouraged to follow @BearkatsBSB on Instagram and X for in-game content, scores and udpates.

Both teams dropped their most-recent midweek games with DBU falling at home to Oklahoma on Monday and Sam Houston dropping a narrow 5-4 decision to Houston on Tuesday in the finale of the Don Sanders Cup series.

SERIES vs the PATRIOTS
- Sam Houston leads the all-time series vs DBU, 28-26, including 20-12 in Huntsville

- DBU has own 12 of the last 14 meetings overall, winning five of six games since the Kats joined CUSA for the 2024 season

- Sam Houston will be looking for its first weekend series win over DBU since 2014 when the Kats won the final two games of a 3-games set in Huntsville

NOTES
- Sam Houston has had to navigate one of the toughest CUSA schedules to date in 2026 and the numbers back it up. The Kats' average opponent RPI thru four league series is 100.8, bettered only by Middle Tennessee's 80.8 average opponent RPI

- Entering this weekend there are five teams in CUSA currently ranked in the RPI top 100, including three (Missouri State, Jax State and Liberty). The Bearkats and MTSU are the only schools to face the two highest-ranked RPI teams (MOST, JSU) and after this weekend the Kats will be one of four schools to have played three top-100 RPI opponents within CUSA play. MTSU, Liberty and Delaware are the others

- Ryan Franden and Cade Corcoran continue to lead the offense and carry strong streaks into the weekend. Franden comes in riding a career-best 11-game hit streak, while Corcoran has reached base in 22 straight contests, the longest by any Bearkat since 2024 and the longest by a Kat freshman since 2022

- Ryan Peterson is set to make his ninth start of the season in the series opener. The junior righty is the only pitcher in CUSA to have logged at least 5.0 innings with five or more strikeouts in all eight starts this season

- Peterson goes into Game 1 vs DBU with 64 punchouts and a 1.99 ERA on the year. With 36 more strikeouts this season he would become only the sixth Bearkat in program history with 100 Ks in a season and join Heath Donica (109 in 2017) and Hayden Wesneski (110 in 2019) as the only SHSU pitchers to do so since 1974

Series Preview: vs DBU

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Players Mentioned

Cade Corcoran

Ryan Franden

Ryan Peterson

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