Sam Houston fails to recreate magic

After Sam Houston State’s remarkable comeback the day before against another Southeastern Conference team, there was a sense Saturday that No. 8 Kentucky, despite late five- and sixrun leads, wasn’t feeling secure facing the Bearkats down the stretch.

The Wildcats, who got a stellar performance from starter Zack Thompson, had their bullpen in action during the eighth and ninth innings, not taking anything for granted.

But there was no lateinning magic this time for Sam Houston. The Bearkats had no answer for Thompson and the Kentucky sluggers, opening the second day of the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park with a 7-2 loss to the Wildcats, scoring both their runs over the last two innings.

“You could feel them kind of being on edge a little,” Sam Houston starter Hayden Wesneski (1-1) said. “They did have guys in the bullpen, and they were bunting the ball a lot. They were trying to scrap one more (run), knowing that we were going to come back. It didn’t happen today, but you could feel it.”

On Friday, Sam Houston shocked No. 18 Vanderbilt 7-6 in 10 innings on a walkoff two-run homer by Hunter Hearn. That game winner came an inning after Jordan Cannon homered to tie the game when the Southland Conference team was down to its final strike.

But Saturday, the Bearkats (7-3) managed only one extra-base hit (Blake Chisolm’s ninth-inning RBI double) among 10 hits. It was Kentucky (10-1) doing the damage with a pair of two-run homers by Luke Heyer, who hit two in Friday’s decisive 14-2 win over Houston, and T.J. Collett, among its 11 hits.

“Their lineup’s deep, and it’s tough to navigate,” Sam Houston coach Matt Deggs said. “Two two-run homers basically did us in.”

The Bearkats scored in the eighth on Andrew Fregia’s sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 5-1. Chisolm’s double scored Jack Rogers in the ninth after the Wildcats tacked on two eighth-inning runs.

Chisolm, Trey Ochoa and Mac Odom, who had two bunt singles, had two hits each for Sam Houston.

The lefthanded Thompson (2-0) allowed only four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts over six scoreless innings. LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 3 VANDERBILT 0

Kennon Fontenot’s two-run homer in the third inning provided all the offense the Ragin’ Cajuns needed to blank the Commodores, who are 0-2 in the College Classic. Louisiana-Lafayette starter Jack Burk (1-2) threw seven shutout innings, allowing only five hits.