OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - Sam Houston’s Luke Prihoda earned a national best 18th save Saturday as the Bearkats rallied for a 5-4 win over Troy in the losers bracket in the Oxford Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
Prihoda worked 2 2/3 innings of relief as the No. 4 seed Bearkats (38-24) picked up their first regional tournament win since 1996. Stephen Price (1-0), working in relief of starter Jesse Marshall, got the win.
Joe Hallahan (5-7) took the loss for Troy (35-26), who was led by Clint Robinson and Edgar Ramirez with two hits apiece.
The Trojans, who committed five errors in an opening round loss to Southern Miss, could not overcome three errors that led to three unearned runs.
Ramirez lifted a first-inning solo homer as Troy took an early 3-0 lead. The Trojans never seriously threatened again until the final frame, getting the tying runs aboard before Prihoda closed it.
Sam Houston got RBI hits from Bobby Verbick, Austin Boggs and a sacrifice fly from Karl Krailo to earn a 3-3 third-inning tie. An inning later, the Bearkats used pair of infield errors to take a 5-3 edge.
Keith Stein, Todd Sebek and Verbick led the Bearkats with two hits apiece.
Sam Houston moved to Sunday’s 1 p.m. losers bracket final against the Ole Miss-Southern Miss loser. The Bearkats lost 14-5 to the Rebels in the opening round of the regional.
