by Andrew J. Ferraro
Staff Writer
The Houston Cougars baseball team hammered the TSU Tigers' pitchers and stifled their hitters en route to a 13-1 blowout Wednesday night at Cougar Field.
And with a solid performance on the mound from freshman Jerret Sykes and home runs from catcher Bruce Rios and right fielder Scott Keithley, Houston's 13-1 win over the Texas Southern Tigers was truly a pick-me-up.
Sykes, who had never pitched more than two innings in any of his relief outings, made his first start Tuesday night. For the first six and two-thirds innings, it looked as if he was headed for the team's first no-hitter since 1994.
After retiring the first 20 batters of the ball game, Tigers center fielder Robert Robinson lined a hanging curveball over the left-center field fence and broke up the no-no.
"Jerret did an outstanding job tonight," Rios said. "But toward the end, he left one of his curves and they took advantage of it."
TSU starting pitcher Sonny Garcia, who held the Cougars to just two runs in his previous outing against UH, brought his nasty curveball and held the Cougars to just two hits over the first three innings.
But Rios' fifth homer of the season brought that to an end.
"We really needed to get something started right then," Rios said. "I was looking for a good pitch to hit and I was very fortunate to get the one I did."
Sophomore first baseman Matt Ferrell also contributed to Houston's barrage as he added three hits, including two doubles, while driving in a run in the eighth inning.
"We needed two things coming into this game - starting pitching and to get our bats going," Ferrell said. "And tonight we got both of them."
With the Cougars up 3-0, the Tigers decided to replace Garcia with junior Alex Treaville to start the sixth inning.
After retiring three of the first four Houston batters, the wheels fell off the wagon.
Ferrell led off the seventh with a double and later scored on an RBI single by senior third baseman Dustin Carr.
With two outs in the inning, TSU committed errors on three consecutive plays, allowing Houston to score three more unearned runs in the inning.
With the Cougars up 10-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Cougars designated hitter Abe Arguello, at bat for just the second time in his career, singled between the shortstop and third baseman, and the crowd and dugout went wild.
Play was halted as that baseball was retrieved for Arguello's trophy case - it was his first collegiate hit.
"I've just worked real hard for that hit and I just thank coach Noble for the opportunity." Arguello said. "It's really a dream come true."