The Sam Houston baseball team is looking to bounce back from a rough 2025 campaign, which saw them go 12-43 overall and 6-21 in Conference USA play.
The Bearkats are entering the 2026 season with an overhauled roster that features a mix of key returners and newcomers from high school, the transfer portal and junior college.
“We put together what we think is a pretty good piece of new guys coming in, not only from the junior college ranks, but especially from the high school ranks,” Sam Houston head coach Jay Sirianni said at a preseason press conference in early February.
“They’re going to be young, they’re going to be a little bit, you know, a learning curve-type deal, but we are excited about those guys. We are excited about all of our incoming guys.”
The Bearkats ranked last in Conference USA’s preseason poll, which was voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches. Sam Houston was also left off CUSA’s preseason all-conference honors.
SHSU loses a key contributor in second-team all-conference honoree Hunter Autrey, who led the Bearkats last season with a .325 batting average to go along with 40 runs, 67 hits, 43 RBI, 12 doubles and nine home runs. The Bearkats will look towards their returnees and new additions to lead the turnaround for the 2026 season.
“Coming in to spring training we’ve been healthy,” Sirianni said. “The arms have been able to bounce back and kind of start to fall into some rolls and stuff like that, so we’ve played really good defense as a whole, and we’ve kind of put a focus on you know just having steady consistent at-bats.”
Returning junior pitcher Ryan Peterson is someone the Bearkats will look to lean on this season. Peterson had a strong sophomore year, which saw him go 2-9 with a 6.29 ERA, recording a team-high 75 strikeouts in 73 innings pitched last season.
Peterson ranked sixth in Conference USA in strikeouts last season. He went five innings in each of his first eight starts, and after going seven shutout innings against Liberty, he was named Conference USA pitcher of the week on May 5, 2025.
Peterson set a career-high in strikeouts with 10 against New Mexico State, with at least five strikeouts in eight of his 14 starts.
“Petey’s going to be good,” Sirianni said. “He has followed that trajectory that a lot of guys we’ve had over the years. You know, freshman year, sophomore year and now junior year, he’s really working with a mission and he’s got a bright future.”
Two other players to be on the lookout for this season are junior Ryan Franden and senior Brady Christensen.
As a sophomore, Franden had a .309 batting average, 17 runs, 47 hits, eight doubles, 23 RBI, a .395 slugging percentage and a .365 on-base percentage.
Christensen put up a .254 batting average, 38 runs, 43 hits, 11 doubles, four triples, a team-leading 10 home runs, 36 RBI, a .544 slugging percentage and a .401 on-base percentage.
“The speed game, the bunt game, that’s definitely going to be a piece of our offense for sure. We’ve got some experienced guys that can handle the bat, and that’s exciting,” Sirianni said.
When asked about which freshmen could contribute this season, Sirianni listed infielder Cade Corcoran and pitchers Cooper Harris, Mason Murphy, Collin Aloisio, and Zach Alarid.
“We call those guys the baby Kats,” Sirianni said. “You don’t know what you’re going to get, but they’re going to do it aggressive and they’re going to go get after it.”
The Bearkats will open the season on Friday at McNeese, with first pitch from Lake Charles, Louisiana set for 6 p.m. ESPN + will carry the broadcast.
