Houston downs USF 5-3 to take Easter weekend baseball series

Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2014 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 19, 2014)  The Houston Cougars came into their Saturday, April 19, 2014 game with South Florida; they were one-and-one in their 2014 series.

The Cougars rallied in the eighth inning, from a 3-2 deficit to down the Bulls 5-3 and to raise their season record to 29-10 in 2014.

In the first game of their Easter weekend series, on Thursday, April 17, 2014, the Cougars downed the Bulls, 3-2 on an 11 hit, three-run game with starting pitcher Aaron Garza seeing 6.2 innings of action, giving up a single earned run while striking out four.

Justin Montemayor pounded out two hits, with each getting an RBI.

Jared Robinson, pitching 1.1 innings in relief, received his third win of the season.

In the second game of the series on Friday, April 18, 2014, the Cougars fell to the Bulls by the score of 4-3.

Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography

The No. 12 ranked Cougars could not overcome the four-run first inning by the Bulls, scoring two runs in the first innings and a single run in the seventh inning.

Casey Grayson tallied a 3-for-5 performance, with his fourth home run of the season and 3 RBI.

The in rubber game of the series on Saturday, April 19, 2014, Houston scored first, but the Bulls jumped on three runs in the fourth inning,

The Cougars tallied single runs in the fourth and eighth innings to tied the score at 3-all late in the game.

Houston broke the tie when Frankie Ratcliff, who was placed in the pinch hitting role, drew a bases loaded walk to give the Cougars a 4-3 lead.

Then Jordan Stading tallied another bases-loaded walk to give the Cougars a two-run lead.

Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography

The Cougars raised their American Athletic Conference record to 6-6 with 12 conference game remaining.

The next contest for Houston will be on Tuesday, April 22, 2014 when they face non-conference opponent Sam Houston State University with a 6:30 p.m. CDT first pitch at Cougar Field.