Women's Hoops

UH C-USA Men's Notebook



 

By Anna Sivadasan
Daily Cougar Staff

UH pitcher Greg Runser admitted to being a little nervous prior to taking the mound Tuesday afternoon at Reckling Park against the Rice Owls.

After all, Runser's third career start as a member of the Houston Cougars would come in front of a sell-out crowd and against the No. 22-ranked team in the country.

Pete Medrano/The Daily Cougar

But the junior right-hander was certainly up to the challenge, pitching the No. 12-ranked Cougars (2-2) to a 6-2 win over the Owls (0-4).

"The difference in me this year is just maturity," Runser said. "Last season, I spent a year in junior college (at San Jac), and I got my body in shape and started caring about baseball again. And today it just shows that my hard work has paid off."

Runser pitched a Division I career-high five innings, allowing only one run with four strikeouts. Seven of his 15 outs came on ground balls.

"Coach (Kirk) Blount and I talked in the bullpen about how they hadn't done a whole lot with the bat in their first three games," Runser said. "Coach said to throw your two-seam fastball in there and get some groundballs, and we just stuck to the game plan and it worked."

UH pitchers Nick Torina and Matt Hooper came into the game in relief and picked up where Runser left off, limiting the Owls to two hits over the final four frames.

The Cougars got on the scoreboard in the second inning off of Rice starter Jeff Nichols. With the bases loaded and two outs, designated hitter Shane Nance hit a two-run single to center to put the Cougars on top 2-0.

"Obviously we wanted to come out strong today," Nance said (2-for-3, two RBI). "We were seeing the ball real well, and I just happened to be at the right place at the right time." 

UH added a run in the third on Jarrod Bitter's first homer of the season, a solo shot that cleared the left field wall.

After Rice answered with a run in the fifth to pull within 3-1, the Cougars put the game away with a three-run ninth inning.

"I'm really proud of the way our team got themselves ready to play," UH head coach Rayner Noble said. "We played a very good game. Our pitching was just fabulous, and Greg Runser was really impressive."

Nichols lasted only 2.1 innings and gave up three runs on six hits.

Kris Wilken, Bitter and Nance led the UH offense at the plate, combining for seven hits and four RBI.

With the victory, Runser squares his record at 1-1, and Nichols suffers the loss to drop to 0-2 on the year.

UH takes the upper-hand in the annual Silver Glove Series held between the two cross-town schools.