Houston Cougars Drops Weekend Baseball Series to Texas State

Taylor White is quickly becoming a contributor at the
plate and in the field for the Cougars.
Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loco Photography
Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved.

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2012 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 26, 2012) The Houston Cougars came into their three-game weekend series against the Texas State Bobcats with a 3-1 record and were looking to begin a new winning streak after losing to Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Tuesday evening.

Facing a tough Bobcat squad that is picked to win the Southland Conference, the Cougars drop the last two games of the series for a record of 4-3 for the still young season.

On Friday evening, the Cougars trailed the Bobcats 1-1 going into the bottom of the ninth when Jacob Lueneburg was hit by a Ross Gobel pitch with the bases loaded to allow Landon Appling to score and give the Cougars the game 2-1.

The win was the first for the Cougars over the Bobcats since 2008.

In Saturday’s game, the Cougars could not overcome the fire of the Bobcats bats, dropping a 6-1 decision.

The Cougars tallied 10 hits, but could not find the power to score any runs in the lop-sided victory.

Lueneburg continued to show promise at the plate, going 3-for-4 to lead the Cougars.

Appling contributed a 2-for-5 showing.

Casey Grayson scored the lone run for Houston on a Chase Jensen single up the third base line with Jordan Lewis credited with the loss.

In Sunday’s game, it was much more of the same, with the Bobcats exploding for six runs on 13 hits with the Cougars managing only five hits in the 6-0 loss.

Texas State got on the board in the top of the sixth with runs by Nick Smelser, Cody Perkins and Ben McElroy.

The Bobcats came back with another run in the eighth and two in the ninth.

The Cougars continued to struggle at the plate, with their five hits limited to singles and left 11 on base.

Aaron Garza pitched 5.1 innings for Houston, giving up two runs off six hits while facing 24 batters and striking out three. Houston used four pitchers in relief.

The Cougars will next face cross-town rival Rice in a 6:30 p.m. match up on Tuesday.

The Owls are currently 8-0 on the season and are ranked number five in the nation by Baseball America.

Houston Cougars Sweep Delaware in Opening Weekend Baseball Series

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2012 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 19, 2012) The Houston Cougars baseball team started the 2012 campaign in royal fashion, sweeping their opening weekend three-game series against the Delaware BlueHens.

Friday’s game was rescheduled to Saturday morning due to severe weather conditions in the Houston area.

The Cougars and the BlueHens played a double header on Saturday and finished the three-game series with a 1:00pm start on Sunday.

In the first game of the Saturday double header, the Cougars came back from a 5-0 deficit in the bottom of the 8^th inning to score seven runs to clinch the win.

Jacob Lueneburg and John Cannon went 2-for-3 for the Cougars with each scoring a run. Taylor White added to the hit total, going 2-for-4, also with a run.

Chase Wellbrock, pitching one-third of an inning in relief got the win while Jeff Murray recorded the loss for the BlueHens.

In the second game of the double header, the Cougars exploded for 15 hits to win their second game of the season 16-1.

Seven of the runs came in the first innings with an additional five more scoring in the fourth.

The BlueHens tallied five errors in the game which undoubtedly attributed to the loss.

On Sunday, the Cougars made it a clean sweep of Delaware with a 9-2 win in front of 907 fans at Cougar Field.

Cougar starting pitcher Aaron Garza threw six complete innings giving up one run on five hits while striking out three and walking two.

The Galveston native, who is a true freshman, faced 24 batters and threw 71 pitches.

At the plate, Price Jacobs showed hit skill by going 5-of-11 for .455, scoring five runs and knocking in seven RBI. The Baytown, Texas native is also a true freshman.

The Cougars are now 3-0 for the season and will return to Cougar Field for a 6:30pm matchup against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Tuesday night (Feb 21).

They will then play Texas State in a three game series at home on Feb. 24-26.

UC-Irvine Beats Southern 5-1 in College Baseball Action

By Robert H Kelly Copyright 2012 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 18, 2012) The University of California Irvine upped its season record to 2-0 with a 5-1 drumming of Southern University in a Saturday game at the 2012 Urban Invitational at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.

The Anteaters capitalized on three fielding errors by the Jaguars to score two runs in both the 4^th and 6^th innings and a single run in the 8^th.

Irvine third baseman Tommy Reyes led the Anteaters with one runs on two hits, two RBI and two walks.

Left fielder Kris Paulino went 1-for-2, scoring two runs with second baseman Dillon Moyer also scoring a run.

The Jaguars managed only three hits in the match to go with the single run.

Kyle Hooper, pitching four innings in relief, gave up a single hit, no runs while walking two. He was credited with the win.

On the other hand, starter Jose De Leon pitched 3.2 innings, gave up two runs on five hits.

Daniel Garcia and Santos Saldivar pitched in a combined 5.1 innings of relief allowing three runs on four hits and walked three.

Fielding was definitely a problem for the 1-1 Jaguars with third baseman Cameron McGriff, catcher Clint Ourso, and pitcher Daniel Garcia all committing errors.

UC-Irvine will next face Texas Southern on Sunday with a revised start time of 10:00am.

Southern will play Alabama State immediately after the Irvine-Southern game.

All games on Sunday have been reassigned to Minute Maid Park due to the inclement weather in the Houston area.

Grambling Downs Alabama St. 8-5 at MLB Urban Invitational

Four errors by Alabama State allowed Grambling
State to score six runs in the top of the 12th inning.
Photo by Robert H Kelly-TexSportPublications,
Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved.

By Robert H Kelly

Copyright 2012 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 18, 2012) In a game that was tied in the bottom of the ninth inning, Grambling State University (2-0) scored six runs in the top of the 12^th to down Alabama State University (0-2) 8-5 in the second game for both teams in the MLB Urban Invitational at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

Alabama State scored two runs in the seventh inning to take a 2-1 lead and was headed for the win when Grambling tied the score in the top of the ninth.

Alabama State connected for three runs in the bottom of the 12^th but it was not enough to overcome the Tigers’ six-run inning.

The name of the game was errors and they were all off the gloves of Alabama State.

The Hornets’ shortstop Emmanuel Marrero and pinch hitting first baseman Lloyd Kelly each committed two errors for the four error total.

Tiger starting pitcher Richard Bautista hurled 7.1 inning, giving up two earned runs off three hits while striking out three.

Relief pitcher Michael Martin as credited with the win; pitching 1.1 innings while giving up three earned runs off three hits and striking out two.

The Hornets’ Greg Matthews earned the loss after giving up six runs, three of them earned, off five hits in the top of the 12^th.He also walked two while striking out four.

Grambling State will next face Prairie View A&M on Sunday, Feb. 19 with a 6:00pm start time.

Alabama State will take on Southern University at 2:30pm on Sunday.

Both games will be played at the Houston Astros MLB Urban Youth Academy  at Sylvester Turner Park in Houston.

MLB Urban Invitational Headed to Houston

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2012 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 16, 2012) This coming weekend, the NCAA and Major League Baseball combine to host the 2012 Urban Invitational in Houston.

Six colligate teams will face off in three days of baseball action at two venues in the Bayou City.

The first day of the invitational on Friday, February 17 will be held at the Houston Astros Urban Youth Academy at Sylvester Turner Park.

The first game of the tripleheader will see the Southern University face off against Prairie View A&M University wit the first pitch at 11:00AM.

At 2:30PM, the University of California, Irvine takes on Alabama State University with Grambling State University vs. Texas Southern University in the nightcap at 6:00PM.

Saturday’s action will move to Minute Maid Park with three games scheduled; Alabama State vs. Grambling State at 11:00AM, UC-Irving vs. Southern at 3:00PM and Texas Southern vs. Prairie View at 7:00PM.

Grammy-nominated singer Ruben Studdard will perform the National Anthem prior to the 3:00PM game, which will be televised live on MLB Network and at mlb.com.

Sunday will see the games moved back to Sylvester Turner Park with action at 11;00AM, 2:30PM and 5:30PM.

UC-Irving will take on Texas Southern in the first game followed by Alabama State vs. Southern and Grambling State vs. Prairie View.