The Sam Houston baseball team dropped its Conference USA opening series against Jacksonville State, suffering a three-game sweep with a 4-3 loss on Sunday afternoon. With the loss, the Bearkats extended their losing streak to four games.
The Bearkats’ overall record drops to 8-11 and 0-3 in CUSA play. Despite a rally in the eighth inning, which saw the Bearkats go up 3-2, Jacksonville State put up two runs in the ninth to secure its win.
Tate Hickman was the starter on the mound for the Bearkats and delivered five strikeouts, allowed five hits and two runs and threw 77 pitches in five innings. The sophomore pitcher set a new career-high in innings pitched.
Despite an early jam in the second inning where Jax State went up 2-0, Hickman remained focused and didn’t allow the opponent to score in his remaining appearance on the mound and only allowed three hits.
“Tate did a great job, you know he came in and he’s kind of one of those guys that can pitch in multiple roles. He did a good job for us, having to use as many guys as we did yesterday, it was really big for him to go as far as he did,” Sam Houston head coach Jay Sirianni said.
Jax State would open up the scoring 1-0 in the second inning after Grayson Ashe scored from third base on a wild pitch. Luke Williams would score on a no-outs ground out to second base by Matthew Cash making it 2-0 in the second inning.
The game would remain 2-0 until the eighth inning, when the Bearkats’ bats woke up. Parker Blackman, who pinch ran for Nathan Fink, would score from second base after a single from Sean Bazmore, making it 2-1.
Jace Martinez would score after Hunter Alvord reached base on a fielder’s choice, making it 2-2. Bazmore would score after a throwing error, giving the Bearkats the lead 3-2.
Jax State would take a 4-2 lead to secure their win in the ninth after Matthew Cash scored on a ground out by Jaxon Pate and Ace William scored on a single from Trey King.
Bazmore and Alvord had one RBI each for the Bearkats, while Nathan Fink had a two-hit day.
“I mean, like I said, they like to play, they like that opportunity to compete and that’s just kind of been them all year even in the fall, find a reason to win or find a reason to compete and give it what you got to that day, so they’ve done a good job there,” said Sirianni.
The Bearkats bullpen played a vital role in keeping them in the game after Hickman’s day on the mound came to an end. Jonathan Anders relieved Hickman in the sixth and pitched for 3.0 innings, striking out three batters and allowing two hits and one run in the 54 pitches he threw.
“Well, Johnny did a great job, I mean we were there for a while, I thought we were gonna go to him earlier, but tate, you know wiggled out of a couple of things, and Johnny settled it in, like I said the mistake I make is I try to go out there, he’s past his limit, I try to go out there and steal one more out for him, and it just came up didn’t work,” said Sirianni.
Kade Neuenschwander relieved Anders in the ninth and allowed two hits and one run in the 20 pitches he threw.
The Bearkats will look to end their four-game losing streak when they travel to Beaumont, Texas to face Lamar University at Vincent-Beck Stadium on Tuesday, with the first pitch slated for 6:05 p.m. ESPN + will be broadcasting this game.
