Bearkats Run At NCAA’s Elite Eight Came To A Screaching Halt
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
CANTON, Mich — After a strong first day at the NCAA Bowling Championship, Sam Houston State couldn’t duplicate the same success on Friday afternoon.
They dropped a pair of matches to Arkansas State and Fairleigh Dickinson, eliminating them from the championship.
“It was a tough day for us,” said head coach Brad Hagen. “I thought we played pretty well, we just couldn’t come up with the big shots when we needed them. We had hoped to improve on our showing two years ago on Friday, but unfortunately it didn’t happen for us.”
The Kats entered the day as the No. 3 qualifier, following a 5-2 day during Thursday’s qualifying round.
Sam Houston defeated five of the eight seeded teams Thursday including wins over Central Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas State, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin-Whitewater to earn the No. 3 seed in Friday’s best-of-seven baker bracket play.
But the Kats got off to a slow start in the opening match against No. 6 Arkansas State.
Arkansas State came out hot and never slowed down, sweeping the Kats 4-0 in the opening round of the best-of-7 baker matches.
In the opening game, the Red Wolves started with three straight strikes while the Kats left the first two frames open.
A late charge by the Kats was not enough as they fell 210-192.
Game 2 was more of the same in a 210-192 loss for the Kats.
In Game 3 SHSU started strong, but an open frame in the fourth for the Kats, followed by four straight strikes by ASU lifted the Red Wolves to a 215-193 victory.
In the final game of the match, open frames once again cost the Bearkats, failing to pick up the spare in three of the first five frames and they couldn’t recover in a 193-172 loss.
“It is really difficult to try and come out of the losers bracket to get to the finals,” Hagen said. “We knew the importance of the first match, but just never could get anything going for us.”
In the final match of the day, the Kats fell 4-2 to Fairleigh Dickinson.
FDU built an early lead taking the first two games.
The Knights were hot in Game 1, hitting strikes in seven of the first nine frames, cruising to a 227-166 win.
In game 2 the Kats couldn’t hit consecutive strikes and FDU closed with six straight for a 205-178 win.
Sam Houston bounced back for a win in game 3, winning 201-195.
FDU left the sixth frame open and the Kats answered with three straight from the 5th-7th.
Erin Brown hit a strike in the 9th to lift the Kats.
In game four, the SHSU didn’t roll a strike until the ninth frame.
Michelle Secours closed with three strikes in the 10th, but it wasn’t enough in a 214-193 loss.
The Kats stayed in the match in the fifth, escaping with a 181-179 win.
They left the 10th frame open, but FDU came right back and did the same thing to give the Bearkats the win.
Needing a win to force a seventh game, the Kats had no answer for and FDU team that rolled their best game of the match.
The Knights closed with six consecutive strikes to win the game 247-197 and close out the match.
“They gave us an opportunity there in the fifth to get back in the match, but we couldn’t take advantage,” Hagen said. “Give credit to FDU, they finished strong.”
Arkansas State Steals First Game Of Series From Bearkats
By Cheval John
Pinch-hitter Ryan Robert’s go-ahead, game-winning two-run single in the top of the ninth inning gave Arkansas State Seawolves a 5-3 victory over Sam Houston State Bearkats in the first of the three-game series on Friday night.
Though both teams left 10 men on base, the Bearkat pitching staff walked 9 Arkansas State batters in that put them in a difficult position to win.
“When you walk nine guys, you always going to get beat,” coach David Pierce said. “The bullpen didn’t do a very good job tonight.”
Seawolves reliever Chandler Hawkins pitched two innings in relief and got the win.
But starter John Koch was in command of his pitches and went after the strike zone with his change up and fast ball that kept Arkansas State (7-2) in the game.
“He (Koch) just pounded the zone. … He’s very competitive, managed the game well.” Pierce said.
The Seawolves struck first in the top of the third inning after third baseman Claude Johnson issued a bases-loaded walk to score Stuart Levy from third to make it 1-0.
Carter Burgess’s two out, two-run double to left field in the bottom of the third inning gave the Bearkats a 2-1 lead.
Luke Plucheck drew a walked with two outs.
Atwood followed with a walk to put runners on first and second and both later scored on Burgess’ double.
Arkansas State had opportunities to tie the game in the top of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings and every time, the Bearkats found a way to get out of those jams.
The Bearkats (4-5) got that critical third run when Ryan Farney scored from second on an error by Johnson to increase their lead to 3-1.
It seemed as if SHSU was out of the woods, but the Seawolves found a way to get back in the game in the top of the eighth when pinch-hitter Ryan Roberts hit a two out, two-run single to right field to tie the game at 3.
Zach George led off the ninth inning with an infield single. The play was as close as it gets as he just barely beat the throw., but in the process went down with an injury.
Austin Baker pinch ran and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dustin Jones. He advanced to third on a wild pitch by Jason Simms, who suffered the loss for the Kats.
Logan Uxa and Johnson was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs.
Then Robertson hit the go-ahead, two run single to right field that brought in Baker and Uxa for the 5-3 lead.
Things got interested in the bottom of the ninth when Atwood issued a walk with one out after coming back from 0-2 on the count.
Though Burgess struck out for the second out, Ryan O’Hearn kept the inning alive by issuing a walk to bring the potential game-winning run in Spence Rahm.
Rahm hit a sharp grounder that would have went into the left field, but Johnson made a diving stop to his left and threw Rahm out by a margin to end the game.
“He (Rahm) had a good swing down the line, but Johnson made a good play,” Atwood said.
Bearkat starter Caleb Smith went 6 1/3 innings and got the no-decision with 9 strike outs and one earned run given up.
The Bearkats (4-5) have been close in every contest this season.
Even with a tough loss, they are aiming to regroup and get better for tomorrow’s game.
“We had a lot of close games,” center fielder Colt Atwood, who went 2 for 2 with three walks said, “We’ve been in every game that’s for sure. We haven’t been blown out but we got to get back to work.”
Bearkat Bowlers Wins Tulane Invitational
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Knocking off No. 2 ranked Arkansas State twice in three meetings, the Sam Houston women’s bowling team swept to an 11-1 record and the team championship at the Tulane Invitational in Kenner, La., this weekend.
The title marks the first time in the program’s three-year history the Bearkats have started the season by bringing home the championship trophy in an intercollegiate tournament.
With a perfect 9-0 mark during the first two days of the event in team baker and team individual matches Friday and Saturday, respectively, the Kats drew one of the top two seeds in best-of-seven bracket play Sunday.
Arkansas State defeated SHSU 4-3 in the opening match of bracket action Sunday. The Kats bounced back for a 4-3 win over Jackson State then topped Arkansas State in the bracket play rematch 4-3 in the finals to hoist the championship trophy.
Stephen F. Austin and Jackson State finished third and fourth in the 11-team event behind runner-up Arkansas State.
“Sunday was about continuing to maintain our composure, fill frames, and focus on finishing what we started,” SHSU head coach Brad Hagen said. “We wanted to come to Tulane and make a statement and we did. This team is acting as they’ve been together for years and it’s paying off major dividends.”
Senior Michelle Secours and juniors Neishka Cardona and Kimi Davidson are the only returning players from last year’s squad that finished No. 9 in the final national rankings. Transfers Rebecca Pittser and Kelsey Smith and freshmen Erin Brown, Anna Groce and Hannah Harrison are newcomers for the Kats this year.
“I can’t be more proud or commend the girls enough on how well they acomposed themselves through out this event as well as staying in the moment,” Hagen added.
Saturday the team rolled up victories in total pins team play over Jackson State (978-823), No. 10-ranked Stephen F. Austin (865-852), Louisiana Tech (949-894), No. 2 Arkansas State (1002-965) and No. 17 Prairie View A&M 908-821.
Friday the Bearkats were 4-0 in team baker matches, knocking down 3761 pins. Sam Houston defeated Bethune-Cookman 766-638, North Carolina A&T 665-655, Grambling 836-542 and Southern 698-582. The Bearkats also rolled a score of 784 in their bye round due to the odd number of teams in the field.
Following the top four finishers in the tournament were North Carolina A&T in fifth, Prairie View A&M in sixth, Bethune Cookman seventh, Louisiana Tech eighth, Tulane ninth, Southern 10th and Grambling 11th.