Connor Zaruba makes three starts

Yoakum High School Class of 2022 member and Sam Houston State University (SHSU) baseball player Connor Zaruba played eight games for the Bearkats during his redshirt junior year in 2025, following two seasons at McLennan Community College.

In the second game of a three-game home series Feb. 15 against Missouri State, Zaruba pitched one inning in his first appearance of the season with two strikeouts, one hit by pitch, three at bats, four batters faced, one groundout, and 11 pitches as SHSU won 13-4.

In a 6-1 SHSU loss to Rice Feb. 19 at home, he worked one inning with two strikeouts, three at bats, three batters faced, one groundout, and 11 pitches.

In the closer of threegame series against New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Bearkats won 6-3 as Zaruba started, worked two innings, one hit, two strikeouts, one hit by pitch, seven at bats, eight batters faced, four flyouts, and 35 pitches.

He started the March 2 Frisco Classic against LSU and took the 12-8 loss (0-1), going 1 2/3 innings, six hits, seven runs, seven earned runs, two walks, one double, two home runs, 10 at bats, 13 batters faced, two flyouts, three ground outs and 4 9 pitches.

Zaruba started the the third game of threegame series in Norman, Okla. against the University of Oklahoma. He pitched 3 1/3 innings, four hits, four runs, four earned runs, three walks, one three strikeouts, one wild pitch, 13 at bats, 17 batters faced, two groundouts, five flyouts, and 70 pitches in SHSU’s 9-7 loss. In the field, he allowed three stolen base.

In a 12-11 win against Houston March 12 in a game that started in Huntsville and later concluded in Sugar Land, Zaruba pitched three innings with four hits, two runs, two earned runs, one walk, three strikeouts, one home run, 13 at bats, 14 batters faced, three flyouts, three groundouts, and 53 pitches. In the field, he allowed one stolen base.

In the opener of a three-game series at home to Abilene Christian March 14, he went 2/3 of an inning, four hits, five runs, five earned runs, one strikeout, one hit by pitch, six at bats, seven batters faced, and 21 pitches; in the field, he had one error on one chance, .000 fielding and allowed three stolen base attempts as the Bearkats lost 13-6.

Zaruba made his last appearance of the season in the March 23 finale of a three-game series against Louisiana Tech, a close 9-7 loss for SHSU.

He pitched 2 1/3 innings, four hits, one run, one earned run, two strikeouts, one double, one wild pitch, 11 at bats, 11 batters faced, and 36 pitches. In the field, he allowed one stolen base.

His totals for the 2025 season:

Pitching: eight appearances, three starts, 11.40 ERA, 15 innings pitched, 19 runs, 19 earned runs, six walks, 15 strikeouts, two doubles, three home runs, 77 batters faced with .348 batting average, two wild pitches, three hit by pitch, one sacrifice flyball allowed, one sacrifice hit allowed, 286 total pitches.

Fielding: one error on one chance, .000 fielding, eight stolen bases allowed.

Connor is the son of Scott and Kristi Zaruba of Yoakum.