Houston falls to the bats of the California Golden Bears, 13-2

Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2013 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (March 3, 2013) After winning their first two games in the Houston Astros Foundation College Classic, the Houston Cougars could not seem to keep the momentum of winning together as they fell to the California Bears by the score of 13-2 at Minute maid Park in Houston.

The high of beating two good teams in the tournament may have been to hard on the young team as Houston head coach Todd Whitting express in his post-game press conference.

"I thought we had a bit of a hangover after two big wins but that’s going to happen with a young team."

He went on to express that this was not an indication of the talent and focus of his Cougars.

"I told the team put this behind you, this is not us."

Cal-Berkeley jumped out to any early lead with a three-run second inning and added two more in the third and five more in the fifth.

The Cougars finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth when Josh Vidales scored from third base on a sacrifice fly by Frankie Ratcliff.

They scored their second run of the game in the seventh inning on a Kyle Kirk double; sending Kyle Survance home from third.

Six Houston pitchers saw action in the game, with starter Daniel Poncedeleon getting the loss.

He saw 2.2 innings of action; giving up six hits for five runs, all of them earned while walking two and striking out two, to send his ERA to 4.91 for the season.

At the plate, Vidales was one-for-two scoring one run. Kirk was two-for-four with one RBI.

For the Bears, starting pitcher Collin Montour got the win; seeing 5.1 innings of action while giving up five hits and a single run.

With the loss, the Cougars drop to 8-3 for the season as they prepare to face Penn State on Tuesday and Wednesday at Cougar Field.