by Andrew J. Ferraro
Staff Writer
Sunday afternoon, nine seniors were honored before what was likely their last home series of their collegiate careers.
But for two of them, it will not be a pleasant weekend to remember.
Senior pitchers Scott McLeod and Tommy Marik were touched for three and seven runs, respectively, as the Cougars fell to the hot-hitting Alabama-Birmingham Blazers offense Sunday, 13-6.
Coming into last weekend's final conference homestand, the Cougars were looking to sweep the three-game series.
But with a pair of losses to UAB this weekend, Houston now finds itself trailing Tulane by a game and a half heading into the final week of conference play.
After a heart-breaking 7-8 loss on Friday night, the Cougars got their bats going on Saturday and pounded out 16 hits en route to a much-needed 12-9 victory.
And in the early going of the rubber game, things didn't look very bright for the home team.
With two on and nobody out, Blazer left fielder Shane Watts doubled in a pair of runs and after McLeod hit catcher Shaun Harris, center fielder Brent Murphy hit his first of three doubles of the afternoon plating Watts.
After second baseman Jeff Bell doubled in Murphy, McLeod was relieved by UH junior Jon McDonald to stop the bleeding.
"If I could have thrown my (offspeed) pitches for strikes, I think we could've been all right," McLeod said.
"I felt good coming out today, but I think I was pressing a little too hard and I just didn't get the job done."
For the next five and a third innings, three Cougar relievers held the UAB hitting attack at bay while Houston plotted its comeback.
McDonald, and freshmen Duncan McAdoo and Jerret Sykes held the Blazers to one run on three hits while striking out four and walking just one.
Trailing 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Houston used two clutch hits to tie the game.
With one out in the inning, senior Goefrey Tomlinson doubled in Scott Keithley and Ryan Ware to bring the Cougars within two.
After a sacrifice fly by Dustin Carr scored Mike Medrano, Jason Schreiber singled in Tomlinson to tie the score at six, putting the Cougars in position to win the game and series.
But the hard-hitting Blazers had plans of their own as they ripped anything Marik threw at them into shreds, foiling any hopes of a UH comeback.
Marik, who entered the game with a 5-0 record and a team-leading 2.93 ERA, surrendered seven runs in one and two-thirds innings while yielding seven hits, including Blazer second baseman Jeff Bell's seventh homer in his last five games.
"All weekend we were able to battle back, but they came out and hit the ball," Carr said. "They came in there and wore us out I don't see how they're losing all of those conference games (13 losses)."
Blazer head coach Pete Rancont said he was very proud of the way his team played this weekend and of the way his team has been playing for the past couple of weeks in general.
UAB has won seven of its last eight ball games.
"We needed to win this ballgame today," Rancont said. "With a few more wins going in to the C-USA tournament, we may be able to use this series as a way to prepare for them should we see them later on."