Sam Houston Shines In Houston College Classic
By Cheval John
HOUSTON-Sam Houston State wanted to show the nation that they are a force to be reckoned with.
So far so good.
The Bearkats defeated No.26 Texas Tech 10-6 at the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park.
The victory is Sam Houston’s third consecutive over a nationally ranked opponent.
Last Tuesday, the Bearkats defeated No. 10 Rice 3-1 at Reckling Park, then No.12 Texas Christian (TCU) 9-4 in the first game of the tournament.
Sam Houston (10-1 overall) had three home runs in the game that produced seven of their ten runs.
Ryan O’Hearn, who went 2 for 4, had two home runs with four RBIs.
“I struggled a little bit yesterday and was chasing pitches out of the zone. Today I was just worried about getting strikes and getting good pitches to hit,” O’Hearn said to SHSU’s athletics website gobearkats.com. “I got a few of them. It was a lot of fun, especially here at this stadium and to help my team win. It’s huge for us to get wins against these teams in this tournament.”
Hayden Simerly had the other home run with a 3 for 5 performance and two RBIs.
The Bearkats fed off the offense with their pitching.
Reliever Sam Odom pitched 4 1/3 innings, fanned three batters and got his second win.
“This is just a crazy experience,” Odom said to gobearkats.com. “I never expected to come into my first year in college and be able to throw as many innings as I have. Playing at Minute Maid going against what I grew up watching, it’s just an amazing feeling and I can’t explain it.”
O’Hearn started the fun in the top of the first when he launched the first pitch into the Crawford Box for a 1-0 lead.
Texas Tech (8-3) responded with two runs in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1.
Jake Barrios started it with a two out, infield single and advanced to second on a walk to Eric Guitierrez.
Then Adam Kirsh ripped a single past third baseman Carter Burgess that scored Barrios from second.
Guitierrez scored after the ball skipped away from Burgess while trying to apply the tag.
The Bearkats wasn’t phased by it as they exploded for five runs in the top of the second for a 6-2 lead.
Shea Pierce and Luke Plucheck issued back-to-back walks and the bases was loaded after an infield single by Ryan Farney.
Colt Atwood’s RBI single drove in Pierce to knot it up at 2.
Then, O’Hearn’s sacrifice fly gave the Bearkats a 3-2 lead.
A wild pitch by Red Raiders’ starting pitcher Matt Winthrow allowed Farney to score the fourth run for Sam Houston.
A batter later, with two outs, Simerly launched a two-run shot to right field to increase the lead to 6-2.
Even though Texas Tech was chipping away at the lead by scoring a run in the bottom of the second and the fifth to pull within 6-4, they would not get any closer.
O’Hearn made sure of that when he hit a two-run home run to right field in the top of the sixth inning to make it 8-4.
Sam Houston added two more runs in the top of the seventh to increase the lead to 10-4 and would hold the Red Raiders for the win.
Withrow wound up with the loss for Texas Tech and now holds a record at 1-1.
The Bearkats look to finish the tournament unblemished later this morning when they face No.15 Texas at 10:05 a.m.
