HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Baseball fell just short offensively to the Bearkats in the opening game of the series.
Tarleton State (25-21, 15-9 WAC) dropped Game 1 against Sam Houston (25-21, 7-11 C-USA) to see a 9-6 final Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
A highly competitive game at the plate saw a pair of lead changes as well as a pair of ties to make for a neck-and-neck night at the ballpark, but ultimately a strong Bearkat offense overtook Tarleton State's efforts.
Piercen McElyea got the start for the Texans with 2.2 innings on the mound, giving up four runs on three hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
Reese Bassinger (L, 4-2) took his second loss of the season after 2.0 innings pitched, giving up four runs on four hits, one walk and one strikeout.
Coltin Atkinson started for the Bearkats with 6.0 innings on the bump, giving up five runs on eight hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Chandler David (W, 3-3) went 1.1 innings on the mound, giving up no runs on no hits, no walks and one strikeout.
Tarleton State finished the evening with six runs on 12 hits, with home runs from
Cole Miears and
Cris Enriquez. A trio of Texans tallied four doubles with help from
Mason Hammonds (2),
Hunter Smith (1) and Miears (1).
Sam Houston closed out the evening with nine runs on 11 hits with three home runs and a pair of doubles.
In the opening inning for the Purple and White, a leadoff double from Hammonds started things off for the Texan offense. With a lone out tallied, Miears cranked out his sixth homer of the season to bring in a pair of runs to put Tarleton State on the board early.
In the bottom of the second, a solo home run tallied the first run for the Bearkats to see a 2-1 score with the Texans still in the lead.
With a couple of outs recorded in the third, Enriquez homered to right field for his fifth of the season, bringing in the third run for Tarleton State.
The bottom of the third inning changed the momentum of the game in favor of the home team, as a three-run home run gave the guys in orange the lead at 4-3.
In the bottom of the fourth, a leadoff double was followed by an RBI double to continue the run for Sam Houston.
The Texans' half of the sixth welcomed another pair of runs to the board for Tarleton State. Enriquez walked to start the inning off. With one out recorded,
Hunter Smith singled to see two runners on. A sacrifice bunt from
Ike Shirey advanced the runners and a two RBI single from
Sergio Guerra brought Enriquez and Smith home to tie things up at 5-5.
A leadoff homer for the Bearkats in the bottom of the seventh saw the home team take back the lead at 6-5.
In the top of the eighth, Tarleton State continued to battle at the plate as Smith doubled as the leadoff and Shirey singled to right to bring Smith across, tallying the sixth run to tie things back up at 6-6. Three runners were left on to close out the inning.
The bottom of the eighth sealed the deal for Sam Houston as a trio of runs came in for the home team. A leadoff single and a hit by pitch put a pair on for the Bearkats. A sacrifice bunt advanced the couple and a wild pitch made room for the lead runner to come home, giving the lead back to Sam Houston. A walk followed by a catcher's interference call loaded the bases and a two RBI single brought the Bearkats' lead to 9-6.
A scoreless top of the ninth closed the door on a comeback for the visitors with a 9-6 final for Game 1.
A schedule change in accordance with the weather will see the remaining pair of games set for Saturday in the form of a doubleheader with a 2 p.m. start time.
