No. 18 Central Florida tops No. 13 Houston Cougars, 4-3 in college baseball action

Photo by Robert H Kelly All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2014 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (May 2, 2014) The No. 13 Houston Cougars came back to score three runs late in the game, but it was not enough to overcome early runs by No. 18 Central Florida as they fell to the Knights by the score of 4-3 in front of 1,226 fans at Cougar Field in Houston, Texas on Friday, May 2, 2014.

The Cougar pitchers had problems with the Knight’s hitting early in the game, giving up seven hits, which included six in the first four innings.

Houston starting pitcher Aaron Garza opened with 6.2 innings on the mound, giving up four earned runs on six hits and facing 24 batters.

The right handed pitcher receives the loss, dropping his season record to 6-4.

Shortstop Frankie Ratcliff got the Cougars on the scoreboard in the fifth inning on a sacrifice grounder to score catcher Caleb Barker from third base.

They tallied their second and third run in the seventh innings which saw eight Houston batters come to the plate and connect for five of their 10 hits.

Houston came into the bottom of the ninth inning sending Ratcliff, first baseman Casey Grayson and designated hitter Justin Montemayor to the plate.

Ratcliff quickly flied out to left field while Grayson grounded out to Knight second baseman Dylan Moore.

Montemayor came to the plate with two outs and took the pitch count to before singling to right center field.

Jacob Lueneburg was sent to the plate by manager Todd Whitting to pinch-hit for second baseman Josh Vidales.

The Caledonia, Wisconsin native was appearing in his 28th game of the season and filed out to left field on a 1-1 pitch to close out the game.

With the loss, the Cougars fell to 33-13 for the season.

The Knights raised their record to 29-16.