The Bearkats saw a gradual improvement in their three game series at Southwest Texas last weekend, winning the final game 4-0.
Junior Zach Adkisson pitched a complete game shutout, accomplishing the feat with only three strikeouts. He was, however, able to keep the Bobcats off the bases, giving up only seven hits and zero walks.
“(Adkisson) was great with the change up,” Bearkat coach Chris Rupp said. “He was hitting them with the change up all day long.”
The offensive production for the Bearkats on Sunday surprisingly came from the bottom half of the order, in the form of third baseman Phillip Weaver, batting sixth and first baseman Jonathan Stone, batting seventh.
Both infielders got two hits and they made those hits matter. Both of Weaver’s and one of Stone’s were doubles. Weaver also scored two runs and batted one in and Stone had two runs batted in.
“They came up with big hits when they needed to,” Rupp said.
The day before, on Saturday, the Bearkats were telling a different story.
For some reason, the Bearkats just couldn’t get on base, getting only five hits and one walk in the 3-1 loss.
What really gave Sam Houston a problem was the Bobcat pitching. Brandon Hankins pitched an excellent eight innings for Southwest, giving up only four hits, one walk and one run, while striking out five.
Both sides had great pitching, as Sam Houston got a top-notch performance from Phillip Gougler, who pitched all eight innings for the Bearkats. Gougler kept the Bearkats within reach by allowing only five hits, while striking out four.
“Gougler pitched well enough to win,” Rupp said. “All you can ask is that your pitcher keep you in the game and he did just that.”
Sam Houston’s only run came from a solo homerun by Lou Ferrell in the seventh inning.
Although still a loss, it was a vast improvement over Friday’s game, when the Bearkats suffered a 10-5 loss at Bobcat Field.
Unlike they would do Saturday, the Bearkats were able to make some hits. In fact, despite being outscored by five runs, they were only out hit by the hosts 13-12.
“We didn’t make our hits pay off and we left too many on base,” Rupp said.
The game remained close until the fourth and fifth innings, when Southwest scored five runs to pull ahead 8-3.
The Bearkats were able to get a few players hot on the bat. Andrew Kasparek hit a homerun in the fourth inning, eventually going two for four with one run and two RBIs. Brandon Foster and Jeremy Holzbach each had two hits and one RBI. Dom Garcia went one for four with one run and one RBI.
The Bearkats will play next when they host Dallas Baptist Tuesday at 3 p.m.
“Every game you want to play to win,” Rupp said. “I want to get the guys on a streak and get some momentum going into this weekend.”