|
Baseball Rolls to Big Win over No. 25 UCF on Saturday
April 5, 2008
HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team broke open a close game with seven runs in the fourth inning on the way to a 10-1 win over No. 25 UCF during the middle game of a Conference USA series Saturday at Cougar Field. The two teams traded single runs in the bottom of the third and top of the fourth inning before the Cougars seized control of the game in the fourth. Eight of the first nine Cougar hitters reached safely to start the rally. Ryan Lormand reached on an leadoff infield single and stole second base to move into scoring position. Two batters later, Matt Murphy smashed a single up the middle to score Lormand. Following back-to-back walks to Austin Goolsby and Zak Presley, Blake Kelso lined an RBI-single through the left side to score Murphy and keep the bases loaded. Jake Stewart was hit by a pitch to force Goolsby home. Pounds then blasted a double to left field to score Presley and Kelso, and Bryan Tully followed with a two-run single down the left-field line. Tully went 2-for-5 with a run and two RBIs, while senior infielder Bryan Pounds went 1-for-3 with two runs, a double and three RBIs. Sophomore DH Chris Wallace added a pair of RBIs in the winning effort. That would be more than enough offensive support for freshman southpaw Ty Stuckey, who enjoyed his best outing in a Cougar uniform and improved to 2-2. The Spring native allowed only one run off seven hits and a walk with a career-high seven strikeouts in a personal-best seven innings of work.
Stuckey struck out at least one batter in six of his seven innings, including each of the first five, and retired 10 of the last 12 batters he faced to end the game. UCF starter Mitch Houck collected the loss and fell to 3-1 after giving up eight runs off seven hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Shortstop Eric Kallstrom went 2-for-4 with a solo home run to pace the UCF offense, which rapped out seven hits in the game. With the win, the Cougars improved to 18-10 overall and 4-1 in C-USA games. UCF fell to 22-10 overall and 2-6 in C-USA games. The Cougars also enjoyed their fourth straight win over a nationally ranked team, the first time that feat has been accomplished since April 4-16, 2003. UH also snapped a nine-game losing streak on Saturdays. It was the team's first win on a Saturday since enjoying an 8-2 win over C-USA rival Marshall on April 28, 2007. The series wraps up at 1 p.m., Sunday. Fans can hear Cougar Baseball games live at UHCougars.com by clicking the appropriate links. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play action while former letterwinner Pat Cauley provides color analysis. Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the Gametracker link. The Cougars grabbed the first lead in the third inning with a two-out rally. Presley reached on an infield single and moved into scoring position on an errant UCF throw. After Kelso was hit by a pitch and Stewart drew a walk to load the bases, Pounds drew a bases-loaded walk to force Presley home and hand the Cougars a 1-0 lead. The lead would be short-lived as Kallstrom led off the fourth inning with a home run to left field. In the sixth inning, Pounds drew a one-out walk and Tully followed with a single to center field. Two batters later, Wallace lifted a two-out single into right center to plate both runners for the final margin of victory. |
ATHLETICS TICKET OFFICE
TICKET INFORMATION
ONLINE TICKET SALES
tickets@UH.edu
713-GO-COOGS (462-6647) 877-COUGAR-5 (268-4275) |
