The Sam Houston Bearkats baseball team claimed two wins during the 2021 Shriners Hospital for Children College Classic, ending the weekend with a walk-off hit from freshman right fielder Clayton Chadwick slapping an RBI double off the visiting bullpen to bring in freshman pinch-runner Erick Davila.
Despite the two wins against Rice University on Friday and No. 13 Texas Christian University on Sunday, the Bearkats only outscored their opponents 18-17. Overall, Sam Houston went 30-for-106 from the plate, hitting for a .283 batting average and nine walks, with six of those coming in the first game on the weekend.
Bearkats head coach Jay Sirianni talked about the opening game in which Sam Houston won against Rice 12-4.
“You know, I think Tyler [Davis] went out and set the tone pitching wise and then our offense was able to score first and kind of get the train out of the station,” Sirianni said. “I thought we played a pretty complete game. There’s still some things we need to get better at. But overall a good game and a good way to start off a tough weekend.”
In the opening game, junior starting pitcher Tyler Davis allowed two earned runs on five hits, striking out five and walking none in six innings of work and 22 batters faced. The pitching staff overall would fan 10 hitters at the plate and collect 28 strikeouts overall on the weekend as a team.
For the pitching side of things, the Bearkats starting pitchers gave up only three earned runs throughout the entire weekend, with the second game during the weekend against No. 10 Texas Tech University, giving up no earned runs in six innings of work from sophomore left-handed starter Matt Dillard.
To close out the weekend, the Bearkats walked it off to beat No. 13 TCU by a final score of 6-5 thanks to the walk-off hit from Chadwick. Throughout the weekend, Chadwick went 3-for-7 with two runs batted in and the walk-off hit to end the weekend on a positive note.
“What a fun ballgame to be a part of,” Sirianni said. “That’s a really good team in the other dugout. You know, we just kind of hung in and made the most of our opportunities but what a ballgame. A lot of fun to be a part of.”
Up next for the Bearkats is a matchup against their third top 20 opponent in four games at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at UFCU Disch-Falk Field as they take on No. 19 University of Texas at Austin in their last game before the conference begins later this weekend.
