by Don Jones
Staff Writer
It was definitely a gem, possibly even a masterpiece, but not quite a Van Gogh.
Three University of Houston pitchers combined to throw nine innings of two-hit ball over cross-street rival Texas Southern, winning 13-1.
"We've been waiting all year for something like that to happen," Cougars head coach Rayner Noble said.
Freshman pitcher Jerret Sykes tossed a no-hitter for six and two-thirds innings before giving up a gopher ball to TSU center fielder Cornell Gray. Sykes finished the inning before giving way to senior Mark Manbeck.
Previously, Sykes had six relief appearances with no decisions, totaling eight and one-third innings and six strikeouts. In his first career start, Sykes almost doubled his number of K's, fanning 11. In all, the Cougars pitching staff combined for 14 strikeouts.
"I had the perfect game, no-hitter and shutout, constantly going through my mind," Sykes said. "I think that's what hurt me. I threw one bad pitch."
Not bad for a guy who had never pitched more than two innings at a time and was sporting a 7.56 ERA since coming to college.
Early on, it appeared as though Sykes would have to be perfect. TSU pitcher Sonny Garcia started the game on fire as well. After three innings, the game was in a scoreless lock and neither team had managed even a single.
"At that point, it was just a matter of going out there and doing what needed to be done," Sykes said. "I threw what needed to be thrown and hit the locations.
"After we got a few runs, that made (the job) a lot easier." Sykes may have made his coach's job a lot easier also.
"I thought Jerret did a great job," Noble said. "He threw a masterful game."
With such a strong outing, Sykes assured himself of more action. "We have a lot of Tuesday and Wednesday games coming up," Noble said. "I can see him slotting in one of those games.
"The thing that excites me the most is this gives us a lot more pitching depth."
The only other TSU batter to get a hit was right fielder Lloyd Evans, who managed a single off Manbeck in the eighth inning. Senior Tommy Marik closed things out with a perfect ninth inning.
If the Cougars pitching staff keeps tossing the ball the way it did against TSU, simply winning a conference title might be an underachievement.