Peterson shines in mid-week start for Bearkats

Mar. 26—HUNTSVILLE — In a midweek showdown between Sam Houston and Rice, freshman Ryan Peterson took the mound for his first start as a Bearkat.

While the Owls took him for two quick hits, he bounced back with 15 straight outs to keep the Owls at bay after a quick run.

Peterson finished the game throwing five innings, where he allowed one hit and one run in the first inning.

"There were nerves. I think the first inning I was pretty nervous," Peterson said. "I was able to settle in and have a good inning. Walker came out to let me know I didn't need to be perfect and I could be myself."

Peterson made his fourth appearance for the Kats, but this was his first start. Out of the pen, he has been solid but never pitched more than two innings.

The freshman faced the Rice lineup twice in his outing, adding seven punchouts and allowing one walk to the Owl batters.

"I think the first thing was he learned how to breathe again. Once he did that he started executing pitches," Sam Houston head coach Jay Sirianni said. "You can tell he was nervous, but we have high expectations for him this year and moving forward."

Sirianni turned to lefty Marshall Wales for three innings of relief. Wales is coming back from an injury and has been limited in his work. The senior returned last week as the starter in the Bearkats midweek game against Northwestern State.

Miles Hellum was called on to close out the game in the ninth. The two relievers gave up five hits and one run across four innings of work.

The Bearkats needed that performance from Peterson too. The offense struggled to pick up on Rice pitcher Robert Fernandez.

Fernandez kept the Bearkat bats quiet until the fifth inning when Jake Tatom grabbed the first hit. Before that, Sam Houston was hitless and the lone base runners came in the fourth inning after a walk and a dropped third strike that allowed a run.

The Bearkats finally ran Fernandez out after 4 2/3rds innings pitched. He allowed one hit, three runs — none of which were earned — and struck out three Kats. Sam Houston forced Rice into five pitching changes to close the game.

Despite the hits not showing up, Sam Houston managed to plate six runs as Blake Brown drilled in two runners.

Lane Brewster grabbed two hits to lead the Bearkats.

"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter about hits, just the run category," Sirianni said. "We had more than they did. However, you get those doesn't matter."

Before this game, Rice had been a bit of kryptonite to the Bearkats. The Owls had won the previous five meetings between the two squads. Rice took a game on Feb. 20 at Reckling Park, 7-3.

The last win for the Bearkats was during the 2021 College Classic at Minute Maid Park.

"For the longest time I don't think we've given them our best shot," Sirianni said. "I told some of the older guys I was proud we didn't have to dog pile."

Now, a strong test awaits the Bearkats.

Sam Houston will hit the road for a seven-game stretch away from Don Sanders Stadium. The Bearkats will flip back into Conference USA play with a road trip to Liberty for a three-game set starting Thursday.

Liberty is coming off a series win against Middle Tennessee to sit at 2-1 in CUSA play. The Flames have won five of their last 10 and scored 25 runs in their series closer against MTSU. After that series, the 'Kats will head down to battle Lamar University before another road trip to New Mexico.

"There's no rest for the weary in this thing. Liberty is going to be good and we are going to have to play well at their place. It's all gonna start with what we can do on the mound. Hopefully, we can hang some zeros and figure it out," Sirianni said.

Sam Houston will kick off the stretch with a 3 p.m. first pitch against the Flames on Thursday. The game will be broadcast on the ESPN+ platform.