Final Stats HUNTSVILLE, Texas. – Already trailing by two, a three-run fourth by the Sam Houston State Bearkats proved costly and opened the floodgates propelling the home side to a 10-0 series opening win over the Nicholls State University baseball team Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntsville in eight innings.

Sam Houston State (29-17, 13-6 SLC) pounded out 13 hits over the course of the game and had nine through just four innings, battering Nicholls (23-23, 6-13) starter Mike Suk (1-6) to the tune of five runs on nine hits with three walks and five strikeouts in the loss.

It got bad for the Colonels early as the Bearkats got runs in the first and third inning as Sam got an RBI single by Kevin Miller and a solo home run from Anthony Azar to give Sam Houston a 2-0 lead, with Azar bringing in the second of three runs in the fourth in a four-hit inning to take its 5-0 lead.

The Colonels mustered just four hits in the contest, with Keith Cormier having the only extra base hit with a double in the top of the fourth. Nicholls got a runner in scoring position in all but three of the innings on the night, but got just one to third for the length of the contest as Andrew Godail (5-2) maintained the shutout in his seven innings of work with six strikeouts.

A walk to Matt Richard opened the game, as the outfielder moved to second on a fielder's choice and then to third on an infield single by Brandon Jackson. However, with two outs in the inning already, Jackson got caught trying to steal second to end the inning.

A walk to Cody Dufrene and fielding error with Richard at the plate put two on for the first time for Nichols in the third inning with one out, but a fly out and strikeout ended the threat. Cormier's double in the fourth was the only action of that inning, while singles by Leo Vargas and Mike Barba put two back on, but again with two outs a fielder's choice forced Barba out at second to close the inning.

Grant Borne came on in the fifth and pitched two scoreless innings, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth but would not make it out of the seventh after giving up two runs with four walks and four strikeouts in favor of Kelby Langston who got the final out of the seventh and pitched the next inning giving up the final three runs, two earned on three hits to push the Bearkat lead to 10-0 and end the game.

First pitch for game two is set for 4 p.m. at Sanders Stadium in Huntsville.