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Baseball Takes C-USA Series-Opening Win at Memphis on Friday
May 11, 2007
Houston-Memphis Boxscore (May 11, 2007) in PDF Format MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Houston baseball team jumped out to a 7-2 lead after three innings and held on to take an 11-7 win over Memphis in the opener of a Conference USA series Friday at Nat Buring Stadium. The Cougars struck for two runs in the first inning and added a single run after the Tigers scored two of their own in the bottom of the first. UH pushed its lead to 7-2 with four more runs in the third inning. The Cougars appeared to have the game well under control after the top of the seventh inning, scoring two runs in that frame for a 9-3 lead. But the Tigers scored four runs without a hit in the bottom of the inning to pull to within a pair of runs. However, the Cougar offense answered with two more runs in the top of the ninth inning to ice the win. Felix Fanaselle went 4-for-6 with a run, double and four RBIs, while Josh Stirneman batted 3-for-5 with a run and double to lead a Cougar offense that outhit the Tigers 14-9. Sophomore catcher Luis Flores went 2-for-3 with two doubles, three runs and a stolen base, and freshman center fielder Zak Presley batted 2-for-4 with an RBI, stolen base and three runs scored. Junior infielder Ryan Lormand was a menace for Memphis pitching at the top of the Cougar lineup, going 1-for-1 with a two-run homer, three runs, three RBIs, four walks and a stolen base.
Kyle Norrid went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI, while Adam Amar batted 2-for-4 with a double and run. UH reliever Barry Laird collected the win and improved to 2-1 after holding Memphis to two runs off a hit and two walks in 2.2 innings. Senior righthander Shea Hancock earned his second save after limiting the Tigers to one hit with four strikeouts in the final two shutout innings. Memphis starter Ben Grisham collected the loss and fell to 3-2 after giving up seven runs off eight hits and three walks with a strikeout in 2.2 innings. With the win, the Cougars improved to 26-22 overall, 11-8 in C-USA games, while Memphis fell to 31-19, 11-8 in C-USA games. The series continues at 2 p.m., Saturday before wrapping up at noon, Sunday. Fans can hear Cougar Baseball games live on UHCougars.com with former Cougar letterwinners Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling all the action. Fans can follow live stats by clicking on the "Gametracker" link on the front page of UHCougars.com or on the Schedule and Results page off the Baseball main page. Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the "Gametracker" link on the front page of UHCougars.com or on the "Schedule and Results" page off the Baseball main page. Redshirt freshman southpaw Wes Musick will make his 13th start of the season Saturday. This season, the Lufkin native has posted a 6-3 record with 63 strikeouts and a 2.58 ERA in 73.1 innings. He also leads all C-USA pitchers with a sparkling 1.29 ERA in league games only. Musick enters this weekend's series on a career-best four-game winning streak. He has not collected a loss since dropping an 8-2 decision to Northwestern State on March 3 in the middle game of that non-conference series. He leads all Cougar pitchers in ERA, strikeouts and opponents' batting average (.221) and is one of only four players in C-USA to rank among the Top Seven individual leaders in all pitching Triple Crown categories. In addition, he was named the C-USA Pitcher of the Week on March 26 after striking out 10 batters while allowing only five hits in eight shutout innings during the middle game of the UCF series on March 24. Musick is the only Cougar pitcher this season who has not made an appearance out of the bullpen. In addition, he earned the Cougars' Opening Day start against Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 6, becoming the first freshmen hurler since Jason Hart against Texas Southern on Feb. 7, 1991 to accomplish that feat. In his last start, Musick deserved a better fate during the middle game of the East Carolina series on May 5. He allowed only one run off five hits and two walks with six strikeouts in a career-best-tying eight innings of work. He retired 11 of 13 batters early in the game but finished strong, putting down seven of the last nine batters that he faced. Saturday's game will be Musick's first career appearance against the Tigers. Memphis is scheduled to counter with sophomore righthander Scott McGregor. This season, McGregor has compiled a 5-2 record with 29 strikeouts and a 6.39 ERA in 50.2 innings. The Cougars struck for the game's first runs in the first inning. Lormand drew a leadoff walk and moved to second base following Fanaselle's single to left field. Jimmy Cesario then lined an RBI-single through the right side to plate Lormand. After Dustin Kingsbury's sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third, Stirneman lined an RBI-single into right field to score Fanaselle for a 2-0 UH lead. However, that lead would not last long. K.K. Chalmers led off the Memphis first with a home run to left field and four batters later, Norrid's RBI-single through the left side scored Michael Murphy to knot the game at 2-2. The Cougars regained the lead in the top of the second inning. Lormand drew a one-out walk and, after moving with the pitch, came all the way around to score when Fanaselle smashed a double that rolled to the wall in right center. The Cougars expanded their lead in the third inning with four runs off four hits and a Memphis error. Stirneman led off with a single through the right side and moved to third following Flores' one-out, double down the left-field line. Presley followed with an RBI-single to left field that scored Stirneman, and Flores scored easily when a pickoff attempt at first base went awry. Two batters later, Lormand smashed a 2-2 offering down the left-field line for a 7-2 Cougar lead. In the fourth inning, Josh Irvin drew a leadoff walk and eventually came around on Tyler Huelsing's RBI-single off the leg of UH starter Aaron Brown. The score remained that way until the seventh inning when the Cougars pushed their lead to 9-3. Flores and Presley drew back-to-back, one-out walks and, after another walk to Lormand loaded the bases, Fanaselle smashed a two-run single into left field. The Tigers rallied in the bottom of the inning with four runs without a hit, thanks to two wild pitches, Josh Irvin's bases-loaded walk and a double play that allowed Norrid to score from third base. In the ninth inning, the Cougars iced the game with two more runs. Flores led off with his second double of the night and moved to third following Presley's bunt single. Two batters later, Lormand lifted a sacrifice fly into right field to score Flores. Fanaselle followed with an RBI-single up the middle for the final margin of victory. |
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