Friday, March 25, 2011

With two months left in season, Andreas already has two grand slams

Chris Andreas has elevated himself to rare company in the SHSU baseball record book. On Wednesday night against Prairie View A&M, Andreas blasted his second grand slam of the season. It is a feat that has been done just once in school history.

Tyler Knight was the first Bearkat to ever hit two grand slams in a season with bombs over University of Houston and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi back in 2009. But Andreas, who leads the Kats batting at .373, has a pair of grand slams with 34 more games to play this season. The last Bearkat grand slam was Knight's against Corpus, which was the next to last game of the regular season.

Kelly Eddlemon is the only other Bearkat with two slams in a career, having done it in 1997 and 1998.

Andreas isn't new to the record books. Last season he went on a 26 game hitting streak, the third longest in school history.

Still, Andreas doesn't step to the plate with the bases loaded, thinking about going deep. He's waiting comfortably for the right pitch.

"I come up there just trying to get a base-hit, you know at least get two guys in," Andreas said. "Luckily I got my pitch and hit it out of the yard."

He did admit that hitting a grand slam, of course, is in the back of his mind a little bit, but he focuses on staying comfortable and not overduing it.

The last time the Kats had two grand slams in a season (which was 2009), they actually had three slams. Then sophomore Ryan Mooney blasted a slam that season as well.

In 2008, SHSU recorded four grand slams - three in a one month's time.

Could we possibly see the first ever Bearkat to hit three slams in a season? How about a school record as a team? There's certainly enough time to break 08 team record. Sam Houston has four players batting over .300, with Braeden Riley right behind them batting .283 and only six hits away from passing Eddlemon as second all-time in total hits.

Today the Kats begin a three-game conference series against UTSA, a team with the third highest ERA in the SLC (4.77).

Coach Mark Johnson knows pitching will be critical this season. But expect a lot of record-breaking hitting anyway.

-- Brandon Scott
GoBearkats.com

Thursday, March 24, 2011

A great week in Hawaii

Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course

The Lady Bearkats had a strong outing in Hawaii finishing 7th out of 19 teams last week. Five of the six teams to beat us were ranked in the top 50 in the country, so I was very happy with our performance.

I think it was difficult to stay focused on golf with two holes running along the ocean at Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course which is located on  the U.S. Marine Base on the island of Oahu. Of course, the whales spouting and splashing didn’t help their concentration either, LOL.

Congratulations to Meghann Stevens who had a top 20 finish individually.

All and all we had a great time in Hawaii and played some good golf as well.

-- Tommy Chain
Women’s golf coach  

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Crazy Spring so far

This Spring Semester has been a crazy one! It has been hard to capture a gym; we have to go between the coliseum and the REC center. I think as a whole the team has enjoyed the time we have had off because mid-terms and test have been cluttering our schedules. One good thing about us though, is when we do get a chance to hit the gym we are always going hard. Practices are upbeat and we get a lot of 6 on 6 play! MY FAVORITE!

We play this Friday and everyone is super excited! We want to be able to put it all back together again on the court, although now we are a little bit lighter, with the loss of a few players. They will be missed, but time goes on and we have to keep our goals in mind… WIN! WIN a CHAMPIONSHIP!

Being a senior is amazing! I wouldn’t give anything to be a freshman again, and I really enjoy that feeling. Feeling of accomplishment, no need for “should of” or “would of” just straight sailing through the pages in my book. Spring classes and the demands of volleyball have been rough but nothing new to an ‘oldie’ like me. I have my priorities in order and can’t wait to be able to hit the gym tomorrow. Oh and you can’t forget about those 5 o’clock weights with my favorite lifting coach ever, SPEER! He keeps us lean, mean fighting machines!

-- Jamie Kaleh #7 
Junior OH/DS