The Sam Houston Bearkats fell to the Texas State University Bobcats 5-4 at Globe Life Field in Arlington Wednesday evening. The Bobcats took advantage of the Bearkats only miscue in their season opener, which led to two unearned runs.
Sam Houston led 3-1 heading into the seventh inning, but the only error of the night proved costly as Texas State capitalized. The error led to four runs, two unearned. Sophomore pitcher Steven Beard pitched 3.1 innings, three of them scoreless. Beard then was credited with four runs in the seventh, two earned. Beard came in for relief of starter sophomore pitcher Matt Dillard who pitched three innings and gave up a lone run.
Two Bearkats made their pitching debut, freshman Coltin Atkinson and junior Alex Havlicek. Atkinson finished the seventh inning in relief of Beard, while Havlicek pitched the eighth inning for the Bearkats.
Texas State out hit the Bearkats eight to six. For the Bearkats, junior designated hitter Christian Smith finished 2-4 on the night. Freshman left fielder Clayton Chadwick was the lone Bearkat to have any runs batted in with two off a triple. Texas State came into the contest at 2-2 and got 4.2 innings out of starter junior Cameron Bush with five strikeouts. Sophomore Reece Gould got the win for the Bobcats, pitching two innings of no-run baseball. Junior right-handed pitcher Trevis Sundgren came in for the ninth inning and got the save.
The Bobcats got an early lead in the third from junior third baseman Justin Thompson off an RBI single. Following this, Chadwick’s triple-plated junior first basemen Jack Rogers. An inning later, the Bearkats put up two more runs to make it 3-1 off a freshman catcher Wes Folse double. Folse eventually scored off a Texas State error. The seventh inning is where the Bobcats took back over, leading 5-3. The Bearkats got a run back in the eighth with a Chadwick grounder that sent Smith home to make it 5-4. Sundgren eventually blanked the Bearkats in the ninth.
Sam Houston hosts its home-opening series starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Don Sanders Stadium, where they will play a three-game series against the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners.