Sam Houston State Wins Third Consecutive Southland Tournament Championship

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Sam Houston State defeated Texas State 7-1 in the championship game of the 2009 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament Saturday at Whataburger Field to become just the second team to win three consecutive Southland tournament championships. The win also secured the leagues automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, which begins Friday.

Trinity University won the first three conference tournament titles in 1964, 1965 and 1966 and no university has been able to do it since. That is, not until Mark Johnson became the head coach at Sam Houston State in the summer of 2006. The Bearkats have not lost any of the 12 Southland tournament games under Johnson and Saturdays win netted the schools fourth tournament championship. That figure leads all Southland programs, breaking a tie with Trinity and Texas State.

This years Bobcats entered the tournament as the leagues top seed. Sam Houston State, came into the tournament as the No. 7 seed, and was not intimidated by an early home run by Lance Loftin that put it in a 1-0 hole.

Sam Houston (36-22) answered the call in the bottom of the third inning, turning a lead-off single by Heath Pugh into the tying run when Braeden Riley tripled to the gap in left center. Riley scored on a ground out by Ryan Mooney to give the Bearkats a 2-1 lead.

Bearkat catcher Mark Wyatt, who gave his team a walk-off victory over UTSA on Thursday, led off the fourth inning with a solo home run off the left-field foul pole. Sam Houston added two more runs in the inning to take a 5-1 lead. With two outs, Adam DeLaGarza singled to shallow center field to score Daniel Nottebart and then Ryan Money singled to right to plate DeLaGarza.

The sixth Sam Houston run scored in the fifth and it came on the only error of the game. Tyler Knight doubled into the right-field corner and was able to score on a Daniel Nottebart grounder to first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. The Southland Conference Player of the Year could not come up with the ball and Knight was able to score from second base.

Then the rain and lightning came, forcing a 44-minute delay, an out before the game could become official. Only one more run scored the rest of the way. The Bearkats tagged on a run in the seventh on Rileys second RBI of the game.

Texas State struggled against Sam Houston pitching. Starter Jacob Howard was touched for one run on two hits in three innings before handing the ball over to Matt Shelton, who tried to take the Bearkats the rest of the way. He lasted 5 2/3 innings keeping the Bobcats off the scoreboard. Of the four hits he allowed, three came in the ninth inning, loading the bases for Texas State with two outs. Ryan Tepera came on to record the final out of the game.

Shelton improved to 7-0 with the win, his second of the tournament. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter in 77 pitches. The other win came against UTSA on Thursday. In 9 1/3 innings he pitched in the tournament, he did not allow a run and finished with 12 strikeouts, including eight in the title game. His efforts earned him Most Valuable Player honors for the tournament.

Riley finished the game 4-for-5 with a pair of RBI while DeLaGarza was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Knight also had multiple hits, going 2-for-4, in the Bearkats 14-hit effort. The Bobcats finished with six hits, getting a hit from six different players. Garret Carruth took the loss for Texas State, allowing five runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Sam Houston State, which will be playing in the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive season, is making its fifth appearance overall. It will find out where it will go when the field of 64 is announced on ESPN Monday at 11:30 a.m., CDT.

Texas State, which entered the conference tournament with an RPI of 31, will remain hopeful for an at-large berth. The Southland has had multiple teams in the NCAA tournament four times, including three teams in 2000. The last time the conference placed more than one team in a regional was in 2005 when both UTSA and Northwestern State were selected.

The All-Tournament Team including three players from Sam Houston State. In addition to Shelton, the MVP, Wyatt, DeLaGarza and Sean Weatherford also received mention. Texas State had Goldschmidt, shortstop Jason Martinson and outfielder Bret Atwood named to the list. Third baseman Chris Dunkin and outfielder Anthony Moore from Lamar were selected to the team as were Southeastern Louisiana second baseman Ty Summerlin and designated hitter Brian McCants.