HUNTSVILLE\u00a0\u2013\u00a0The\u00a0Sam Houston Bearkats gave No. 4 Texas all it could handle on Tuesday night, but the homestanding Longhorns rallied\u00a0and got a walk-off home run from Carson Tinney to escape with a 15-14 win at\u00a0Disch-Falk Field.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sam Houston (20-25) put up its biggest offensive night of the season on\u00a0one of the\u00a0biggest stages in the sport, outhitting the Horns (33-9) 14-11 with half\u00a0being for extra bases. Three\u00a0were longballs off the bats of\u00a0freshmen\u00a0Wes Baker<\/a> and Kirby Orth<\/a> who combined for\u00a010\u00a0RBI.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Baker\u00a0finished with three hits and\u00a0homered twice,\u00a0a grand slam in the third and a 3-run shot in the seventh.\u00a0He finished\u00a0with seven total RBI, a new single-game record for a Bearkat\u00a0freshman. Orth\u00a0matched him with three hits,\u00a0singling\u00a0in his\u00a0first two at-bats before connecting on a go-ahead, 2-run blast on the second pitch of the top of the ninth to give the Kats a 14-12 lead.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But Texas had three outs to play with and took full advantage\u00a0after\u00a0having already erased a 6-run deficit earlier in the game. Aiden Robbins, who had already homered earlier in the game, singled home the first run of the\u00a0frame before Tinney blasted his second home run of the\u00a0night\u00a0with one out\u00a0off\u00a0Noah Kendrick<\/a> to give Texas its largest comeback\u00a0win\u00a0since the 2022 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kendrick took the loss as the final of seven pitchers to take the hill, falling to 1-2 on the year. He had one of eight strikeouts by Bearkat pitching,\u00a0led by Mason Murphy’s<\/a> three,\u00a0but the Kats were hampered by 10 walks to Longhorn hitters\u00a0in the game.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas, meanwhile, used seven pitchers of their own with reliever Kade Bing backing into his first win of the year after getting the final three outs of the ninth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Nathan Fink<\/a>\u00a0turned in a huge game offensively as well, reaching base in all five plate appearances while going 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBI. Jeric Curtis<\/a> also had two hits and\u00a0a steal, the 100th\u00a0total swipe of the season for the Bearkat offense.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Bearkats struck early with three runs in the first and five in the third to build the 6-run lead\u00a0behind starter Jonathan Anders<\/a> and reliever Connor Mondey<\/a>. The teams traded runs in\u00a0before the Longhorns got going,\u00a0scoring five times in the fifth\u00a0and\u00a0three more times in the sixth,\u00a0before\u00a0ultimately taking\u00a0the lead on a 2-run double by Ethan Mendoza.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That could have been it for the Kats, but the offense responded loudly when Baker\u00a0connected\u00a0against\u00a0UT reliever Brett Crossland with a 3-run\u00a0homer which surged Sam Houston back in front 12-11.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n