HUNTSVILLE – Just days after closing out a huge offensive weekend, the Sam Houston bats went quiet in a 5-1 midweek loss to Rice on Tuesday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Bearkats (19-14) had scored 44 runs in its 3-game sweep of Abilene Christian over the weekend, but mustered just one run on five hits against the Owls (10-24) who completed a sweep of the season series with Sam Houston for the first time since 2010.
The Sam Houston pitching staff punched out 13 Owls on the night, including seven from starter
Logan Hewitt, which was the most since having 15 in the season opener vs Nebraska.
Rice reliever David Shaw picked up his first win of the season with four strikeouts of his own in 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Aaron Smigelski delivered a 2-run double for the Owls in the first inning and Hal Hughes had a 2-run double as well in the eighth to provide the big offensive punches for Rice.
The Kats had a golden scoring chance in the second inning with the bases loaded and one out, but hit into a double play to end the inning. One frame later
Justin Wishkoski got the Kats on the board, cutting the lead to 3-1 with an RBI double; however, Sam Houston was unable to anything after that, only registering three singles the rest of the way.
Sam Houston will take on another Conference USA opponent on Wednesday when it hosts UTSA at The Don. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN+.
