Sam Houston State Cruises to 12-0 Run-Rule Win over Southeastern Louisiana
SAN MARCOS, Texas - No. 5 seed Sam Houston State cruised to a 12-0 run-rule victory over No. 4 seed Southeastern Louisiana in the first round of the 2011 Southland Conference Tournament at Bobcat Ballpark.
The Bearkats have now won their last 13 games in the tournament, sweeping to titles in 2007, 2008 and 2009 before missing the event last year.
On Wednesday, Sam Houston (35-22) totaled 18 hits while holding the Lions (35-21) to just three singles. Right fielder Greg Olson went 4-for-4 with three RBI and left fielder Luke Plucheck blasted two triples to account for four RBI.
Senior pitcher Brandon Kimbrel (7-4) chalked up his fourth complete game and third shutout of the season. The 12-0 win was the largest margin of victory for Sam Houston in a Southland tournament contest.
The Bearkats jumped on the Lions early, sprinting to a quick lead by scoring in five of the first six innings.
Designated hitter Chris Andreas singled to center field to score second baseman Ryan Mooney in the top of the first inning. Mooney opened the game with a single and moved to second on an error. Plucheck tripled to right field to bring in two more runs and later scored on a ground out by shortstop Ryan Mooney to give the Bearkats three runs in the second inning.
Olson singled with one out and two on to score third baseman Kevin Miller in the third. Andreas led off the fifth inning with a solo home run to right field. Olson added another RBI single to put the Bearkats up 7-0.
The Bearkats added five more runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Miller, RBI singles by Olson and catcher Doug Oney and another triple by Plucheck.
Kimbrel struck out five batters and his defense produced two double plays to keep the Lions scoreless. Tyler Watkins (10-4) was the losing pitcher for Southeastern Louisiana (35-21), surrendering four runs on seven hits in two innings of work.
Four other Bearkats produced multiple hits as Andreas and first baseman Daniel Nottebart both went 3-for-4 and Miller and Riley each posted two hits.
Fourteen of the 18 previous Southland Conference postseason events, a first-round winner swept undefeated through the tournament to hold up the trophy. The Bearkats will be attempting to accomplish that feat for the fifth time in school history. When Sam Houston last won the tournament in 2009, the Bearkats' first round victim was Southeastern Louisiana.
Sam Houston State will play the winner of the Texas State vs. Nicholls State game Thursday at 7 p.m. Southeastern will play the loser Thursday at noon. All 15 games of the Southland Conference tournament are being streamed live on SLC NOW and is available free at Southland.org.
Game Three Quotes
Sam Houston State head coach Mark Johnson
On their dominant performance
"In everything we had felt I still think we would have won but we hadn't been getting the ground balls to fall through. Today, they all fell through."
On Brandon Kimbrel
"He did a masterful job against a well hitting team. I was really pleased with him. He came out ready to play."
Outfielder Luke Plucheck
On hitting two triples
"I think that's probably the first time in my career that I've had two triples in a game. I wouldn't mind doing it again considering it helped us win."
On getting a win in the first round of tournament play
"We love tournament play. We knew our pitcher, Brandon Kimbrel, was going to go out there and give a great game."