Bearkats Suffers First Loss To Dallas Baptist

By Cheval John

Sam Houston State and Dallas Baptist came into this matchup undefeated.

It was only a matter of time before one of these teams etched their first loss of the season.

That time came for the Bearkats as they suffered a 5-1 loss to Dallas Baptist at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntsville, Texas.

The Patriots (5-0) got a quality outing from Paul Voelker.

Voelker went seven innings, giving up a run on 9 hits and struck out 6 batters.

He silenced the Bearkat offense, who came into the matchup outscoring opponents 43-11 in their first five games, to only one run.

“I thought they really pitched and played defense better than us tonight,” Bearkat coach David Pierce said. “They won the 90 foot game today.”

The Patriots offense were in the zone.

Mike Wesolowski went 2 for 3 with an RBI while K.J. Alexander was 3 for 4 with an RBI.

Dallas Baptist had runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the second due to back to back singles by Alexander and Knight.

Tyler Eppler, who went 4 1/3 innings and suffered the loss, got the first two outs courtesy of a fly out by Wall and a force out at second base.

Courtesy of the Bearkats Sports Network

He wasn’t out of the woods yet as he walked Camden Duzenack to load the bases.

But he settled down and got R.J. Talamantes to ground out to end the threat.

Sam Houston State (5-1) had their chance to capitalized in the bottom of the second inning.

Ryan O’Hearn led off with a single and advanced to second on a infield bunt single by Corey Toups.

Both runners advanced to second and third, respectively on a ground out by Dirk Masters.

With two outs, Ryan Farney issued a walk to load the bases.

However, the Bearkats came up short as Luke Plucheck struck out to end the inning.

The Patriots capitalized on their opportunity with two runs in the top of the third for a 2-0 lead courtesy on a RBI ground out by Daniel Salters and an RBI single by Alexander.

Wesolowski led off the top of the third with a double. Austin Listi followed with a walk.

Both runners advanced to second and third, respectively on a wild pitch by Eppler.

Wesolowski’s RBI single in the top of the fourth increased the lead to 3-0 and Trevin Connier’s RBI single in the top of the fifth made it 4-0.

Hayden Simerly’s RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning cut the lead to 4-1.

However, Dallas Baptist added another run in the top of the seventh inning for a 5-1 lead.

The play of the game came in the top of the eighth.

With one out and a runner on second, Wesoloski hit a drive to left field and Plucheck leaped at the wall, robbed him of a home run and threw out Talamantes at first for the double play.

The Bearkats tried to mount a rally in the bottom of the ninth inning when Shea Pierce issued a walk with one out and Farney followed with a single that advanced Wyatt Powell, who pinched ran for Pierce, to second.

But Sam Houston couldn’t make it happen as reliever Brandon Koch got Plucheck to fly out for the second out.

Then with Simerly on deck as the potential tying run, Koch struck out Colt Atwood to end the game.

The Bearkats left 10 runners on base.

“We chipped away one base runner at a time,” Farney said. “We were close to get him (Hayden Simerly) up there and see what he can do. It didn’t work out.”

Sam Houston looks to tie the series later today at 4 p.m.