SHSU’s Road To Omaha Begins In Fort Worth
By Cheval John
HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS-Recently, Sam Houston State (SHSU) earned another at-large bid to participate in the NCAA Baseball Tournament that is set to begin this Friday.
It was SHSU’s third consecutive at-large bid to the field of 64 after being eliminated in the Southland Conference (SLC) Baseball Tournament by tournament winner, Southeastern Louisiana.
The Bearkats, who secured their third consecutive SLC regular season title, will head to the Fort Worth regional and will be joined by Dallas Baptist (DBU), Siena and host Texas Christian University (TCU).
The winner of that regional will face the winner of the San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) regional in the best 2 out of 3 Super Regional, with a chance to go to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Sam Houston are familiar with both Dallas Baptist and TCU.
During the regular season, the Bearkats took the series from DBU while defeating the Horned Frogs in their first game of the Houston College Classic.
The Bearkats understand that it will not be easy, but they believe that the experience from the last two NCAA regionals will be a huge benefit in this year’s tournament.
Here are the schedule for the Fort Worth Regional:
Game 1: #3 Sam Houston vs. #2 Dallas Baptist – 2:30 p.m.
Game 2: #4 Siena vs. #1 TCU – 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, MAY 31
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser – 2:30 p.m.
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 1 winner – 7 p.m.
SUNDAY, JUNE 1
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser – 2:30 p.m.
Game 6: Regional Championship Game – 7 p.m.
MONDAY, JUNE 2 (If necessary)
Game 7: Second Regional Championship Game – 7 p.m.
To see the rest of the tournament field, click here
@SamHoustonState Wins Southland Conference Title Outright With 9-1 Victory
By Cheval John
Sam Houston State is not sharing the Southland Conference title with anyone after sweeping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with a 9-1 win.
The capacity crowd of 870 at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntsville, Texas witnessed the Bearkats securing their 40th win of the regular season for the first time since 1987.
Sam Houston dominated A&M-Corpus Christi during the series as they outscored them 31-6.
The Islanders (19-11 SLC play, 30-25 overall) had struck first in the entire series, but couldn’t capitalized on their opportunities when it counted.
A&M-Corpus Christi again struck first in the top of the second when they took a 1-0 lead on a solo home run by right fielder Kyle Danford.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was looking to tack on more runs in the top of the third inning.
Center fielder Zack Gibson led off with a walk, but was picked off at first by starting pitcher Sam Odom, who secured his 9th win of the season, for the first out.
That turned out to be key as third baseman Brett Burner hit a one out double to left field and advanced to third on a ground out by left fielder Jordan Lee.
Burner was left stranded at third as short stop Brandon Tierney grounded out to end the inning.
The Islanders had their opportunity to get out of the third inning with the lead in tack.
With two outs, Bearkat right fielder Travis Lee hit a chopper to Burner.
However, Burner threw the ball away that allowed Lee to reach second.
That set up center fielder Colt Atwood, who went 3 for 5 with three RBIs, to hit an RBI single to left-center-field that scored Lee from second base to knot it up at 1.
A&M-Corpus Christi was looking to take the lead in the top of the fifth when Gibson led off with a single.
However, he was thrown out trying to steal second by catcher Anthony Azar.
From there, Odom got Burner to ground out and Lee to fly out to end the inning.
The Islanders left 5 runners stranded in the game.
Sam Houston took the lead at 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Travis Lee issued a one out walk, stole second base, and advanced to third on ground out by Atwood.
Then designated hitter Hayden Simerly hit an RBI single that drove in Lee for the second run.
In the first two games, Sam Houston had a huge inning that gave them a huge cushion.
It happened again with a five run explosion in the bottom of the 6th inning to increase the lead to 7-1.
With one out, first baseman Ryan O’Hearn reached base on a throwing error by second baseman Cody Stephens.
After the Islanders got the second out, it seemed as if they were going to get out of the inning when short stop Corey Toups had flied out.
However, a delayed balk called on Islander starting pitcher Devin Skapura, kept the inning alive and moved O’Hearn to second base.
Toups issued a walk later in the at-bat that was followed by another walk by second baseman Shea Pierce to load the bases that set things up for left fielder Luke Plucheck.
Plucheck took advantage of his opportunity as he hit a two run single to left field that made it 4-1.
Travis Lee kept it going with an RBI single of his own and then Atwood hit a two run single to cap the inning.
Sam Houston added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to increase the lead to 9-1.
Relievers Andrew Godail retired the sided in the 8th and Ryan Brinley finished off the Islanders in the 9th inning that sealed the victory for the Bearkats.
Sam Houston now is focused on the SLC tournament which is set to begin on Wednesday in Conway, Arkansas on the University of Central Arkansas campus.
@SamHoustonState Secures Third Consecutive SLC Title
By Cheval John
Sam Houston State clinched their third consecutive Southland Conference regular season title after a 13-3 mercy-rule win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in eight innings at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntsville, Texas.
The victory gave the Bearkats at least a share of the title and the No.1 seed in the SLC tournament which will be on May 21st-24th on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas.
Both teams battled for the first five and 2/3 innings.
A&M-Corpus Christi (19-10 conference play, 30-24 overall) struck the first blow in the top of the second inning when catcher Russell Vaughan hit a opposite field home run to left field for a 1-0 lead.
Sam Houston (21-8 conference play, 39-15 overall) responded swiftly as they scored 2 runs in the bottom of the second inning for a 2-1 lead.
First baseman Ryan O’Hearn, who went 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs, led off with a single, advanced to third on a single by third baseman Carter Burgess, and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by short stop Corey Toups.
A couple batters later, left fielder Luke Plucheck hit a RBI single up the middle that capped the inning.
The Islanders tied it up at 2 on a two out, RBI infield single by third baseman Brandon Tierney.
Sam Houston regain the lead at 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning before the Islanders knotted it up at 3 in the top of the sixth inning on a two out, RBI infield single by pinch hitter Dominic Lopez.
That set things up for the Bearkats to break the game wide open with a nine run explosion in the bottom of the 6th inning to make it 12-3.
Toups started the party with a one out, RBI single that made it 4-3.
A couple batters later, second baseman Shea Pierce drove in the fifth run on a sacrifice fly.
With the base loaded and two outs, center fielder Colt Atwood hit a two run, single to increase the lead to 7-3.
Designated hitter Hayden Simerly issued the walk to load the bases again that allowed catcher Anthony Azar, who started the inning with a single, to hit a two run single to make it 9-3.
Then O’Hearn delivered the dagger with a three-run opposite field home run to capped the inning.
Burgess sealed the victory in the bottom of the eighth inning when he hit an RBI single to make it 13-3 and put the mercy-rule in effect.
Though Sam Houston has the series at hand, they have an opportunity to sweep the Islanders today at 1 p.m. and keep the title to themselves.
I Guess Umpires Can Be Fans After All
By Cheval John
The Fort Worth Regional is probably the most competitive out of the entire 64 regional fields of the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
It was proven yesterday when Sam Houston State and No.7 national seed host Texas Christian University (TCU) played a 22 inning game that lasted for 2 months in which the Horned Frogs “won” 3-2.
The Bearkats should feel good because they’ve been apart of the second longest game in tournament history.
They don’t because they have to turn around and try to win right now against Siena in the losers bracket in order to face the Horned Frogs again in the regional championship later that night and beat them to force a second game tomorrow night.
The truth of the matter is that Sam Houston should not have been in this position because to me the second base umpire Jeff Head gave the game to Texas Christian with two horrendous calls.
To add on to that, this game should not have gone to extra innings in the first place.
In the first inning, after the Bearkats tied it up at 1 and had the bases loaded when short stop Corey Toups hit a ground ball to short stop Keaton Jones, who flipped it to second baseman Garrett Crain for the second out, but Crain throw the ball away that seemingly allowed two runs to score.
However, Mr. Head called Burgess for the interference that resulted in the third out, which kept the game tied.
When TCU scored their second run in the top of the 6th inning to make it 2-1, the Bearkats answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie it up again at 2 that sent it into extras.
Sam Houston had a chance in the bottom of the 13th inning to end it, but catcher Anthony Azar was thrown out at home plate that kept it going.
The Bearkats seemed to had won it in the bottom of the 21st inning when with one out and the bases loaded, right fielder Travis Lee hit a grounder to Jones, who got the force out at second base, allowing Burgess to seemingly score the walk-off run after Jones couldn’t get it to first base for the third out.
However, Mr. Head called left fielder Luke Plucheck for the interference that resulted in the third out and scratch the run away.
In both those plays, there wasn’t an interference by either players, but somehow Mr. Head saw a phantom interference on both plays that extended the game.
Of course, Mr. Head probably knew that he made the mistake, but since he is the umpire, he has all the power and when both Plucheck and Sam Houston coach David Pierce argued with him, he ejected them both.
TCU saw their new chance and capitalized on it by scoring the game-winning run in the top of the 23rd and then reliever Riley Ferrell finished the depleted Kats to seal the win.
What this shows is that TCU couldn’t handled Sam Houston by themselves and they were on their way to a second loss against them (first loss came in the Houston College Classic).
But because of the bailout by Mr. Head, they are in the regional championship.
Though it was a history making game, Sam Houston will remember the way how Mr. Head cost them a possible chance to be a step closer towards a trip to the College World Series in Omaha.
Guess, Mr. Head is a TCU fan.
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