Bearkats’ bats come alive to put away Rice
Sam Houston State had not scored more than five runs in any of its first five games and was batting .220 despite the potential to put up big numbers.
On Friday, in the opening game of the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park, the Bearkats finally broke out. Sam Houston jumped to an early threerun lead, continued to score, and powered its way to a 12-4 victory over Rice.
The Bearkats supported righthander Tyler Davis with 15 hits, including Anthony MacKenzie’s first home run of the season. Gavin Johnson drove in four runs, Corbin Vines collected three hits, and Colton Cowser reached base five times.
“Tyler set a good tone, and our offense was able to score first and get the train out of the station, so to speak,” Bearkats coach Jay Sirianni said. “We played a complete game — and a good way to start a tough weekend.”
Relying on a slider, Davis (2-0) pitched an effective six innings, yielding only two runs on five hits and striking out five without issuing a walk.
Davis did give up a tworun fourth-inning homer to Guy Garibay that cut the Bearkats’ lead to 3-2. But the Kats (2-4) scored two runs each in the fifth and sixth innings and put the game out of reach with a four-run eighth.
“It was good to see us score in multiple innings, and it was also good to put up big innings,” Sirianni said. “Those are positive signs moving forward.”
The Owls’ Bradley Gneiting led off the seventh with a home run to right that made it a 7-3 game. Braden Comeaux picked up two of the Owls’ eight hits.
But for the most part it was Sam Houston piling up the hits and runs. All but one starter had a hit for Sam Houston, which racked up five hits for extra bases.
Cowser had two hits and walked in each of his final three at-bats. Jack Rogers scored two runs with two RBIs on two hits.
“For us to be really good and compete at a high level, our lineup will always have to function together,” Sirianni said. “It was good to see all nine guys work together against what I thought was pretty good pitching. Those guys got after us, so it was very encouraging.”
Rice starter Blake Brogdon (0-2) was pulled after 41⁄3 innings. The righthander was tagged for five runs on eight hits, striking out three with one walk.
“We didn’t have much success on the mound,” Owls coach Matt Bragga said. “Blake was missing spots he typically doesn’t miss, and they made him pay.
“We have to pitch better and we have to hit better. We didn’t do a good enough job of that. When you don’t do a good job in those two phases, you’re going to get beat.”
Sam Houston scored in the second and tacked on two runs in the third to go ahead 3-0, creating a cushion for Davis, who mixed in a changeup enough to keep the Owls at bay.
“He’s just a competitor, a businessman, and goes about his business right,” Sirianni said. “He’s always going to keep you in the game.”
The game got out of hand for the Owls (3-5) on MacKenzie’s sixth-inning blast that upped the Kats’ lead to 7-2. Sam Houston scored in all but three innings.
“The Rogers kid, the Cowser kid, those are two of the best hitters in the country in that lineup,” Bragga said. “And then they’ve got other good hitters.
“But through five games the numbers said they were a .220 hitting team. It doesn’t mean that’s what they’re going to hit on the year, that’s just where they were coming into our game, and that certainly changed against us.”
TCU 15 TAMU-CORPUS CHRISTI 5
Hunter Wolfe and Zach Humphreys homered as the Horned Frogs overcame an early four-run deficit to pound the Islanders. The game was called on the 10-run rule with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
The Horned Frogs tallied eight runs in the seventh, the last two coming on a single by Humphreys, who drove in four on three hits.
Wolfe had three of TCU’s 14 hits. Brayden Taylor collected three RBIs for the Horned Frogs (7-2), who scored the final 14 runs and won their sixth straight. Drew Hill (1-0) pitched 32⁄3 scoreless innings in relief of Charles King to earn the win.
Tre Jones knocked in two runs and Luke Marbach had two hits for the Islanders (4-5), who scored all of their runs in the top of the third to take a 5-1 lead.
NO. 10 TEXAS TECH 8 TEXAS STATE 4
Braxton Fulford hit a goahead two-run homer as part of Texas Tech’s threerun seventh inning, lifting the Red Raiders in the last of Friday’s three games.
Fulford added another home run in the eighth as the Red Raiders scored five runs over their final two atbats to make a winner of Hayde Key (1-0), who pitched three innings of scoreless relief. Cody Masters also homered for the Red Raiders (6-3), contributing a three-run shot that tied the game 3-3 in the second.
Texas State (4-7) got home runs from Wesley Faison and Jose Gonzalez as well as a solid start from Zachary Leigh (0-2), who allowed only four hits in 62⁄3 innings. But on the righthander’s 104th pitch, Fulford took him deep to give the Red Raiders a 5-4 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.