Troyer's two home runs lifts Liberty over Sam Houston
May 23—RUSTON, La. — After a Wednesday night delay, Sam Houston played its first game of the Conference USA Tournament Thursday morning.
With Friday night starter Coltin Atkinson on the mound, the Bearkats were looking to avoid having their backs against the wall after one game.
Liberty (22-32) had a different idea. With the Flames sweeping the Bearkats in the regular season, things stayed the same. Camden Troyer lifted the Flames to a 9-3 win after his 3-4 performance, where he launched two home runs and drove in seven runs.
Atkinson started the game and kept Liberty at bay for most of his outing. The senior logged 5 1/3rd innings and gave up seven hits.
Liberty finally broke through on Atkinson in the fifth inning when they tagged him for two runs after Troyer hit his first home run. Atkinson settled it down, getting out of the inning.
After starting the sixth with a walk and a single, Sam Houston head coach Jay Sirianni turned to Logan Hewitt as Atkinson threw his 95 pitch.
Hewitt inherited runners on first and second before allowing a double and a single to break the game open and give Liberty a 5-1 lead.
While the Flame bats were booming, Sam Houston saw offense come few, far and in between.
Malachi Lott had a big swing in the bottom of the ninth. He left the yard for a two-run blast to give the Bearkat offense a spark for the rest of the tournament.
Hunter Autrey was the lone other bat that drove in a run as his single in the third gave Sam Houston a 1-0 lead.
Against Cole Hertzler, Sam Houston amassed four hits and one run. The Bearkats struck out five times and walked three times against the junior.
With it being a double-elimination tournament, Sam Houston ran through a few of its arms to try and keep this one at bay. The Bearkats used Hewitt, Miles Hellums, Rome Shubert and Lott to escape the game.
Hellums threw the most relief pitches with 29 while Hewitt, Shubert and Lott stayed under 20 to help keep their arms fresh as the Bearkats will have to win their next four games in order to play for a CUSA Championship.
The Bearkats will continue their play in the CUSA Tournament at 9 a.m. Friday at the Love Shack in Ruston. They will face eighth-seeded Middle Tennessee in the elimination game. Sam Houston swept the Blue Raiders in April.
Sam Houston will likely use Michael Watson as its starter.
