May 20, 2005

HOUSTON - After falling behind 4-0 in the first inning, the University of Houston baseball team responded with eight runs in the bottom of the frame on the way to an 11-7 win over No. 30 Southern Miss on Friday night during the middle game of a Conference USA series at Cougar Field.

USM appeared to grab all the momentum in the game's first at bat after taking advantage of four hits and a pair of Cougar errors to score four runs. Brad Willcutt started the scoring with an RBI-double to plate Trey Sutton, and a wild pitch scored Marc Maddox from third base. Jason Lowery and Trey Cuevas then laced RBI-singles later in the frame for a 4-0 USM lead.

However, the Cougars rallied in their first at bat with eight runs off seven hits and two errors in a first inning which lasted a total of 53 minutes. Each of the first seven batters reached safely for the Cougars, who sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning. Travis Tully, Brad Lincoln and Brian Temko scored runs with RBI-singles, while Dustin Kingsbury and Bryan Pounds added RBI-doubles.

A day after being honored as the Cougars' lone senior on the 2005 team, UH reliever Gene Flores earned his career-best third straight win and improved to 3-4 after holding the Golden Eagles to only one unearned run off one hit with five strikeout in the final 4.1 innings of work.

USM starter Brad Owen collected the loss and dropped to 3-1 after giving up six runs off five hits and a walk without retiring an out in the first inning.

Temko went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBIs, while Brad Lincoln batted 2-for-4 with a run and RBI. Travis Tully tied for the team-high lead with a pair of RBIs.

USM infielder Trey Sutton went 2-for-5 with a run and triple, while Kevin Coker batted 2-for-4 with a run. First baseman Brad Willcutt went 2-for-4 with two runs, a double and RBI, and outfielder Jason Lowery finished the night 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. DH Trey Cuevas batted 2-for-3 with an RBI to pace the Golden Eagles, who outhit the Cougars 12-10.

With the win, the Cougars returned to the .500 mark overall at 27-27 and improved to 16-12 in C-USA games. UH also assured its self a No. 4 or No. 5 seed at next week's C-USA Tournament presented by PowerAde, hosted by Southern Miss. USM dropped to 38-17 overall, 19-10 in C-USA games.

The Cougars wrap up their 2005 regular season when they meet the Golden Eagles at 1 p.m., Saturday. That game can be heard live on KGBC 1540 AM or on the Internet at www.UHCougars.com with former UH letterwinners Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling all the action. In addition, fans can follow all the play-by-play action by clicking on the Gametracker link at www.UHCougars.com.

After their offensive outburst in the first inning, the Cougars padded their lead in the fourth inning with a single run. After drawing a leadoff walk and advancing all the way to third on a USM infield error, Bryan Pounds scored on Chris Joseph's groundout.

USM cut into the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning on Chris Matesich's two-out, two-run single up the middle.

However, the Cougars answered with another single run in the bottom of the inning on Travis Tully's sacrifice fly to center field, which plated Brett Logan.

USM scored another run in the top of the sixth inning when Kevin Coker scored from third base after Willcutt grounded into a double play, but that would be all the offense both teams would muster the rest of the night.