No. 19 Houston Cougars sweep opening weekend with wins over Wake Forest, Nicholls State

Photo by Darla Tamulitis
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved

By Robert H Kelly

Copyright 2017 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 19, 2017) The No. 20 Houston Cougars kicked of their 2017 baseball season with a 3-0 record on opening weekend at Schroeder Park in Houston.  The Cougars faced the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Friday, February and Sunday, February 19. On Saturday, they took on the Nicholls State Colonels. In the Friday evening matchup, Houston used 14 hits to generate eight runs to down the Demon Deacons by the score of 8-1. Starting pitcher Seth Romero fanned 12 batter in route to his first win of the season. The junior left-hander who hails from West Columbia, Texas, saw six innings on the mound, faced 24 batters. Left fielder Grayson Padgett was three-for-five at the plate, scoring one run and tallied four RBI.

In the Saturday game against Nicholls State, the Cougars posted their second 13-plus hit game in downing the Colonels by the score of 5-3. Starter Mitch Ullom gave a solid performance, combining with relief hurler Joey Pulido to strikeout seven without give up any walks. Offensively, Padgett was three-for-three with one run and a single walk.

Photo by Darla Tamulitis
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved

In their final game of the weekend, Houston jumped out to a 3-0 lead after three innings, and held on to down Wake Forest by the score of 5-4.  The Demon Deacons put two runs on the board in the fourth to cut the Cougars’ lead to 3-2. Houston answered in the bottom of the inning with a single run to increase their lead to 4-2. The scored reaming 4-2 until the eighth, when Wake Forest took advantage of Houston on a balk and used three pitchers in the inning, to add two runs to their total and tie the game at four-all. Houston regained the lead in the bottom of the inning with a Padgett double, on a 2-1 pitch, to right center field, allowing Conner Wong to score from third base. The Cougars went into the ninth inning with a one-run lead and held on to post a 3-0 mark to start the season.

Next up for the 3-0 Cougars will be a Tuesday, February 21 game against cross-town opponent Houston Baptist University. The Huskies completed their opening weekend with a double header on Saturday and a single game on Sunday against Fordham. In the Saturday double header, HBU dropped the first game 4-3 and came back to win the afternoon game by the score of 13-5. Sunday’s game raised the Huskies record to 2-1 with a 7-6 win over the Rams.