HUNTSVILLE, Texas – No late lead has been safe in the first two games of the Northwestern State-Sam Houston State baseball series.
 
A night after Northwestern State produced a stunning ninth-inning rally for a win, Sam Houston State returned the favor with a two-run eighth inning that produced the winning runs in a 2-1 Bearkats victory Saturday at Don Sanders Stadium.
 
"I just told our club I have no problem with the way we played," fourth-year head coach Lane Burroughs said. "We played with a lot of energy, a lot of intensity. We played pretty well. We didn't a hit to show for it (through six innings), but I thought we absolutely crushed some balls. Their third baseman (Andrew Fregia) saved them about four runs today. He's the player of the game."
 
Bearkats right-hander Heath Donica (2-2) and NSU left-hander Chase Hymel turned in a pitchers' duel more suited for a series opener on a day where the wind was blowing in throughout the game.
 
Donica held NSU (9-9, 3-2) hitless for six innings while Hymel scattered three hits in his 6 2-3 innings of work.
 
Hymel encountered more early jams but was able to wiggle out of a first-and-third, one-out situation with some help from third baseman David Fry, who fielded a short hop and threw home to retire the second out of the opening inning before snagging a high chopper and throwing across for the final out.
 
As Hymel settled in, Fry's Sam Houston State counterpart helped keep the Bearkats (7-12, 2-3) in the game.
 
Fregia twice robbed Kelsey Richard of hits, including starting a pivotal seventh-inning double play, and added a diving stop of a Kwan Adkins liner in the third.
 
"That's baseball," Burroughs said. "We kill some balls. We've got the bases juiced, Kelsey hits a ball hard and he starts a double play. (Donica) was sinking it. It was not an offensive day with the elements."
 
The Demons found their offense in the seventh inning as Bret Underwood turned a nine-pitch at-bat into a leadoff single and took second base when right fielder Riley McKnight misplayed the ball.
 
Cort Brinson then drilled his 40^th career double to the left-field wall, scoring Underwood and snapping the scoreless tie.
 
"Cort cut (the wind) one time and hit it over the guy's head to score our run," Burroughs said.
 
The Bearkats started to solve Hymel in the seventh, loading the bases with one out before Jeffrey Stovall (1-2) induced an inning-ending 3-6-1 double play to preserve the one-run Demons lead.
 
The Northwestern State defense, however, aided the Bearkats' rally an inning later as a pair of errors committed by the left side of the Demons infield led to a pair of unearned runs.
 
Leadoff hitter Bryce Johnson reached on a two-base throwing error to start the inning and scored on Matt Broadbent's pinch-hit RBI single to tie the game.
 
With runners on the corners and one out, Stovall induced a potential double-play ball that the Demons could not handle, allowing the winning run to score.
 
"Stovall made some great pitches," Burroughs said. "David (Fry) didn't make the play there. I told them, 'I hope every ball is hit to David Fry.' He's one of our better players, and no one feels worse than him right now. We just didn't get it done. We'll come back out tomorrow and finish out this series."
 
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday when Sam Houston State right-hander Riley Gossett (2-0, 2.08) starts against a to-be-determined Northwestern State starter.
 NSU       000 000 100 – 1 2 2
SHSU     000 000 02x – 2 5 1
W – Heath Donica (2-2). L – Jeffrey Stovall (1-2). 2B – NSU, Cort Brinson. Highlights: NSU, Brinson 2B, RBI. SHSU, Bryce Johnson 2-3.
Records: Northwestern State 9-9, 3-2; Sam Houston State 7-12, 2-3.