Anna Sivadasan
Staff Writer
The Houston Cougar baseball team won its second straight game of the young baseball season with a 9-4 win over the Central Florida Golden Knights Sunday at Cougar Field.
Over the weekend, UH took two out of the three games in the Marriott West Loop Houston Invitational Tournament.
The Cougars lost a close game to No. 6 Oklahoma 5-4 on Friday night, but came back to defeat Kansas on Saturday 9-2.
Starting pitcher Jon McDonald (1-2), who came into the game with an ERA of 10.29, had his best game of the season.
McDonald went seven innings, allowing three hits, three runs (only one earned) and five strikeouts.
"They (Central Florida) have the same team they had last year, and they never hit anything hard, so I stayed with the same pitches, and it worked for me," McDonald said.
Right fielder Eric Lee came into the game struggling. He was hitting .217 before the game, but he set the tone for UH offensively, leading off the game with his first homer of the season.
He finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Lee said his performance in the tournament over the weekend has helped his confidence.
"My confidence is really high after this weekend. I started off really slow, but some friends gave me some inspiration and it really helped me."
The Cougars were leading 5-2 entering the sixth inning, where they scored four runs to break the game wide open.
UH sent eight men to the plate in the inning.
Second baseman Justin Syfert was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning; Lee followed with a walk; and then with two outs, Jayme Sperring walked to load the bases.
Jarrod Bitter, who had four RBIs for the game, hit a two-run single up the middle to give the Cougars a 7-2 lead.
Shortstop Shaun Skrehot followed with a two-run triple for the Cougars' final two runs.
Along with McDonald's solid start, UH also got hitting production from up and down the lineup. Brandon Caraway had two doubles and two RBIs, Bruce Rios had two hits, and Skrehot was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
UH had lost seven out of its first eight games, and McDonald said the last two wins will only help the team mentally.
"Confidence-wise, it's awesome for our team to win these two games," he said.
"We had a goal after we were 2-7, to be at .500 at the end of this week."
The Cougars will play Central Florida again 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Cougar Field before hitting the road for a three-game series against Illinois beginning on Friday.
Friday: Cougars 4, No. 6 Oklahoma 5
Saturday: Cougars 9, Kansas 2
Sunday: Cougars 9, Central Florida 4
On deck: Cougars (3-7) vs Central Florida (5-8) - 7 p.m. at Cougar Field
*All home games are free to UH students