HOUSTON – The University of Houston baseball team came up short in
its comeback bid against Texas State Sunday afternoon at Cougar Field.
Houston trailed seven going into the eighth inning and pulled within
two before falling to the Bobcats, 9-7.
With the loss, Texas State completed the opening weekend series sweep of the Cougars and UH falls to 0-3 on the year.
Houston
looked to earn their first win of the season, getting their bats going
in the first inning. Junior Joel Ansley started things off with a
single up the middle and sophomore Austin Gracey’s walk put two runners
on base. With two outs, freshman M.P. Cokinos single to left field,
plating Ansley and putting Gracey on third. Sophomore Matt Creel then
gave Houston its second run, scoring Gracey on a single through the
left side.
The Bobcats quickly answered back, knotting the score
2-2 in the top of the second inning. Texas State continued to increase
their lead posting three runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and a
single run in the seventh and eighth.
When it looked as if the
Cougars fate had been sealed, however, Houston got things going in the
eighth inning. With one out, senior Chris Wallace reached base after
being hit in the shoulder by a pitch. Junior Caleb Ramsey homered to
right field scoring the two base runners and a two out rally by the
Cougars then cut the deficit to four going into their final at bat.
Junior
Blake Kelso led off the ninth inning with a single through the middle
and a double by sophomore John Cannon scored Kelso. Back-to-back walks
loaded the bases for the Cougars and Matt Murphy’s fielder’s choice
gave Texas State their first out of the inning but scored Cannon. Then
the Cougar’s comeback bid fell short on two final outs by the Cougars
to close out the weekend.
Freshman pitcher Eric Brooks earned
the start on the mound on Friday. The Taylor, Texas native went four
innings, giving up six hits and five runs with five strikeouts. Senior
William Kankel and Barry Laird each turned in 0.2 innings on the mound,
giving up two combined hits and one run.
Junior Taylor Hammack
and freshman James Conlee added 2.1 innings on the mound and Creel
closed out the final 1.1 innings of the contest.
UP NEXT
Houston
will return to Cougar Field on Feb. 26-28 for a three game series
against Santa Clara. First pitch on Friday and Saturday is scheduled
for 6:30 p.m., with the finale on Sunday slated for a 1 p.m. start.
