Published: March 17, 2008 12:08 am      

Kats sweep Bears

All Bearkat coach Mark Johnson wanted was for his freshman pitcher, Zach Neal, to be able to hold his own and get a lot of innnings of work. Not only did Neal pitch eight solid innings, but he didn’t allow Central Arkansas much offense either to help the Kats defeat the Bears 6-2 Sunday at Don Sanders Stadium and complete the three-game sweep.

“Zach did such a great job for us,” Johnson said. “They didn’t hit the ball well against him. It was really uplifting.”

In his first SLC start, Neal pitched eight innings and allowed only four hits.

“I felt good,” Neal said. “It was a team effort. We couldn’t have done it without the defense. ... I just tried to throw strikes and let them put it in play and let our defense do the work.”

The Bearkats (12-6 overall, 3-0 SLC) got things going right away scoring in the first inning. The leadoff hitter, Todd Sebek, didn’t waste any time and went after the first pitch he saw hitting it to the left field wall for a double. This double extended Sebek’s regular-season hitting streak to 18 games.

The very next batter, Keith Stein, brought Sebek home on a deep fly to the right field gap.

Central Arkansas (7-11, 0-3) answered right back in the second inning. Kent Taylor led off with a hard chopper that turned around Jaime Rohlmeier at second base. Rohlmeier made the throw, but Taylor stepped on first just in time. After a pop out by Scott Cline, Yerby was hit by a pitch. The Bears attempted a double steal, but although Taylor was picked off at third, Yerby made it safely to second. Chris Houk then hit a line drive to right field and Yerby motored in for the run.

Sam Houston bounced back and with baserunners on the corners, Ryan Weber grounded into a double play that scored Seth Hammock from third to give the Kats a 2-1 lead.

The Bears tied the game again in the sixth inning. Central Arkansas had runners on first and third when Taylor ripped a line drive down the right field line to score Kevin Rawls.

The Bearkats took the lead once again in the bottom of the sixth. Sam Houston had Mark Wyatt on second and Ryan Trevino on first. Weber hit a deep line drive to the right field gap to score Wyatt.

The Kats added two more in the seventh and one in the eighth for extra insurance to put away the Bears.

Sam Houston has a Tuesday game against Baylor in Waco before heading to Corpus Christi when they resume conference play on Thursday.