Sam Houston State (SHSU) Bearkat baseball team completed the series sweep by defeated the Northwestern State Demons by the score of 5-3 to complete the series sweep and extend their winning streak to 12 games.

It was also their third straight weekend series sweep against Southland Conference (SLC) teams, making it the first time that they have done that since SHSU moved up to the NCAA Division I level in 1986.

“They really are a good team,” head coach David Pierce said. “Throughout the weekend, it was dogfight and our guys were fortunate to come out on top.”

The Demons (12-17 overall, 9-6 SLC) waste no time in the top of the first inning when left fielder Colin Bear hit a double to right center field that drove in Jordan Buckley to put them up 1-0.

Buckley singled with one out in the inning and advanced to second on a walk to catcher Nick Purdy.

The Bearkats (23-9 overall, 13-2 SLC) answered quickly with three runs in the bottom of the third inning to lead it by the score of 3-1 on a pair of RBI singles by left fielder Luke Plucheck, designated hitter Anthony Azar and right fielder Jake Arrington.

A two run, single by second baseman Jesse Plumlee increased the lead to 5-1.

Things got interesting in the top of the seventh inning when the Bearkats had appeared to have gotten out of the top of the seventh inning without giving up a run when starting pitcher Justin Jackson had touch first base before Drew Helenihi did to get the third out, but first base umpire Wes Bilon called him safe that allowed Matt Burns to score the Demons’ second run and prolonged the inning. The Demons took advantage and added an additional run on an RBI triple by Buckley to cut the lead to 5-3.

Burns hit a double down the left field line with one out in the top of the seventh inning. He advanced to third on a ground out by pinch hitter Nick Doughty that made it two outs.

The Demons had something going in the top of the eighth inning when first baseman Will Watson hit a single to left field with one out with the tying run coming to the plate.

He was thrown out at second by Hale on an attempted steal that made it two outs. Reliever Michael Oros got third baseman Nick Hinojos to fly out to end the inning and dashing the hopes of the Demons.

Jackson pitched seven innings and got his sixth win of the season. He struck out eight batters and gave up three runs on six hits.

Oros pitched the final two innings in relief to get his second save.

“He (Oros) pitched great,” Jackson said. “He threw for strikes and got some strike outs…..that is what he does and he’s a good pitcher.”

The Bearkats will try to extend their win streak next weekend when they face the Lamar Cardinals in Beaumont, Texas, beginning on Friday.

Ryan O’Hearn’s game-winning single in the bottom of the eleventh inning completed the Bearkat come back win against the Northwestern State Demons by the score of 4-3.

The victory extends their winning streak to 11 games and increasing their Southland Conference (SLC) record to 11-2 (22-9 overall).

“I was looking for a pitch that I could hit,” O’Hearn said. “It was low and I had good bat speed and fortunately, it was good enough to win.”

The Demons (12-16 overall, 9-5 SLC) struck first in the top of the second inning on a two-out, RBI single by Drew Helenihi that made it 1-0.

The Bearkats had something going in the bottom of the second when Jake Arrington walked with two outs, but he was thrown out at second base on a steal attempt to end the inning.

The Demons was looking to add more runs in the top of the third inning when Nick Purdy led off with a single and advanced to second base on a single by Colin Bear. Both runners advanced to second and third, respectivly on a sacrifice bunt by Will Watson. But starting pitcher, Caleb Smith stood his ground and struck out the next two batters to stop the Demons at their tracks.

“Caleb really had great stuff tonight,” head coach David Pierce said. “I told him after he got out of the jam ‘that could be the turning point of the game and it turned out to be.”

In the top of the fifth inning, Colin Bear to score from third to increase the lead to 2-0 on a pass ball by catcher John Hale . Bear walked with one out in the inning and advanced to second on an error by Plumlee that allowed Watson to reach first. Nick Hinojos followed with a walk to load the bases.

A sacrifice fly by Jordan Buckley in the top of the sixth inning increased the Demons’ lead to 3-0. Huckabay led off the inning on a two base error by Smith. He advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Helenihi and scored on the sacrifice fly by Buckley.

The Bearkats came storming back in the bottom of the sixth inning when Anthony Azar belted a two out, two run home run off the scoreboard that cut the Demon lead to 3-2. Olson walked with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch by starting pitcher Jacob Roark and scored on Azar’s home run.

“I knew that the fastball was coming and I wanted to put my best swing on it,” Azar said.

The Demons was looking to add on an insurance run in the top of the eight inning when Buckley hit a two-out single up the middle of the field, but was thrown out at second base by Hale to end the threat.

The Bearkats eventually tied it at 3 in the bottom of the eight inning when Corey Toups scored from third on a wild pitch by reliever Mason Melotakis that sailed over the head of Furdy on an intentional walk attempt to Azar.

Toups led off the inning with a single and reached second on a fielder’s choice that allowed Atwood to reach first. Both runners advanced to second and third, respectively on a sacrifice bunt by Greg Olson to put both runners in scoring position.

“I was trying to get on base to get something started,” Toups said. “Two really good bunts by Colt (Atwood) and Greg (Olson) moved me over.”

The Demons had an opportunity to regain the lead in the top of the ninth inning when Hinojos hit a two-out, single up the middle and Watson tried to score from second base, but was thrown out at home by Atwood to end the inning.

Olson led off the bottom of the eleventh inning with a bunt single and advanced to third on a single by Azar that allowed him to scored the game-winning run on O’Hearn’s single.

Jordan Bunch pitched two innings in relief and got his first win of the season while Melotakis suffered the loss for the Demons.

Smith pitched 5 and 2/3 innings and got the no-decision.

The Bearkats will have an opportunity to sweep the Demons in the rubber match tomorrow at Don Sanders Stadium. Game time is at 1 p.m.

A five-run explosion in the bottom of the second inning helped the Sam Houston State (SHSU) Bearkat baseball team take the first game of the series from Northwestern State Demons by the score of 5-4.

With the win, they have extended their first place lead in the Southland Conference with an 11-2 record (21-9 overall) while the Demons, who is second in the conference has an 9-3 record(12-15 overall).

The win also extended their win streak to 10 games.

“It’s a big to get the first win, especially when they are only one game behind,” reliever Brandon Bergen said. “If we had failed tonight, we would have been tied…..the win gave us a little breathing room.”

The Demons waste no time when centerfielder Drew Helenihi stole home to give them a 1-0 lead. Helenihi led off the game with a single and stole second base. With two outs, both Nick Hinojos and Will Watson were hit by pitches by starting pitcher Cody Dickson to load the bases.

They were looking to add more in the top of the second when designated hitter Matt Burns led off the inning with a walk. He advanced to second on an error by first baseman Ryan O’Hearn when he dropped the ball on a pick-off attempt by Dickson.

However, Dickson settled down and got the next three outs to end the Demon threat.

The Bearkats capitalized for five runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead by the score of 5-1.

O’Hearn scored from second base on a error by second baseman Ray Frias that allow right fielder Jake Arrington to reach first and third baseman Kevin Miller scored on a sacrifice fly by catcher John Hale. Arrington would later score the third run of the game on a RBI single by Colt Atwood that went up the middle of the field. Catcher Anthony Azar hit a two-out, two run single to left field that capped off the five run inning. O’Hearn led off the bottom of the second inning with a walk and advanced to second on a single by third baseman Kevin Miller.

Third baseman Ryan Westbrook hit a two out, RBI single in the top of the third inning to cut the Bearkat lead to 5-2.

They kept chipping away as they added two more runs in the top of the seventh inning on back-to-back RBI doubles by Hinojos and Watson to bring the Demons within a 5-4 score.

Things got interesting in the top of the ninth inning when Helenihi appeared to be out at first base, but was called safe at first base by umpire Ricky Rodriguez to set up the potential tying run for the Demons. But Helenihi was forced out at second on a fielder’s choice that allowed Buckley to reach first.

Buckley stole second base to put himself in scoring position to tie the game. Reliever Michael Burchett walked Purdy to put the potential go-ahead run at first.

Burchett got Hinojos to get the second out and Hale thrown out Buckley at third to end the game.

“The pitch was in the dirt and I blocked it and Buckley took off,” Hale said. “I picked it up and threw to third and he was out…the game was over.”

Bergen threw 4 and 2/3 innings in relieve and got his first win of the season while starting pitcher Colin Bear took the loss. Burchett got his third save of the season.

The second game of the series begins at 6:30 p.m at Don Sanders Stadium on the campus of SHSU.

It seemed as if Texas Southern University Tigers was going to pull off an upset against Sam Houston State Bearkats on Wednesday night at Don Sanders Stadium.

But, the Bearkats had something to say about that as they scored 10 runs in one inning that allowed them to defeat the Tigers by the score of 14-6.

It was the sixth time in history that the Bearkats (16-9 overall, 7-2 Southland Conference) scored 10 or more runs in one inning. The last time occurred in 2006 against the University of Texas-Pan American.

The Tigers (12-13 overall, 3-8 Southwestern Athletic Conference) came out of the gate and scored four runs in the top of the third inning that made it 4-0 on a pair of RBI singles by left fielder Louis Hubbard, center fielder Sebastian Stargell and first baseman Anthony Dilligard. Dilligard scored the fourth run of the inning on a pass ball by catcher Shea Pierce.

Smith reached first to start the inning when he was hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on a ground out by catcher Jose Flores. A wild pitch by starting pitcher Brandon Bergen allowed Smith to advance to third that allowed him to score on Hubbard’s single.

Most teams would have probably given up and call it a night, but the Bearkats was not going to be one of those teams.

They responded in a big way when they exploded for ten runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take over the lead by the score of 10-4.

All the Bearkat starters had a hit and scored in the inning. Four of them batted twice.
Short stop Corey Toups scored the first run on an error by catcher Jose Flores. He also hit the go-ahead two-run single that gave them the lead.

“Usually when you give up a four run inning or a big inning early in the game, the thought process is to take it one at-bat at a time and try to get one back, get two back and get yourself back in the game,” head coach David Pierce said. “They kicked the ball araound a little bit and it opened the door for us and our hitters did a great job.”

“The position players responded well to that four run inning that they (Tigers) had,” assistant coach Philip Miller said. “Our guys did an incredible job to put pressure on their defense.”

They added another run in the bottom of the fourth to increase the lead to 11-4.

The Tigers musted up a run in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 11-5, but the Bearkats added another in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it 12-5.

An RBI single by second baseman Jag Gordaya cut the Bearkat lead to 12-6.

The Bearkats finished the massacre as they added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to increase the lead to 14-6.

They finished the game with 15 total hits.

Reliever Andrew Godail went 2 2/3 innings and got his first win of the season. He came in relieve for Bergen who pitched 2 1/3 innings. The Bearkats used a total of six pitchers combined.

Starting pitcher Kevin Schulba suffered the loss for the Tigers.

The Bearkats returns to conference play this weekend as they face the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners in San Antonio for a three game series that will start on Friday.