Cougar Baseball sweeps
Tulane in weekend series
By Stuart H. Clements
Daily Cougar Staff
The No. 7 Houston baseball team made waves
this weekend with a three-game sweep of Tulane on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday.
Brian Viney/The Daily Cougar
Sophomore Sam Mitchell slides into home
during Sunday's win over Tulane.
Brian Viney/The Daily Cougar
Sophomore Sam Mitchell slides
into home during Sunday's win over Tulane.
Houston advanced to 18-7 overall, 5-1
in Conference USA, and Tulane dropped to 13-12 overall and just 1-5 in
league play.
The Cougars allowed only four runs by the
opposition, outmatching the Green Wave. UH won all three games by eight
runs or more.
The Cougar offense dominated the weekend,
out-hitting the Green Wave 37 to 19 over the weekend, and outscoring the
team 30-4.
"We came out swinging the bat," junior
first baseman Brett Cooley said. "We were seeing a lot of good pitches
to hit, and we were being patient,
and we were driving the ball all over
the field."
Sophomore Gene Flores took the hill on
Sunday and picked up the win to improve his record to 2-2. In seven innings,
Flores had eight strikeouts
and allowed only three runs.
Sophomore Austin Faught entered the game
for an inning of relief before senior Matt Hooper came in to close out
the game.
Tulane took an early lead in Sunday's game
when shortstop James Jurries drove in a run in the first inning.
The Cougars responded with two runs in
the second inning, and Tulane trailed the rest of the game.
Houston continued with two more runs in
the bottom of the fourth that weren't answered until the top of the sixth,
when Jurries pounded a
two-run homer to narrow the gap.
Jurries' home run was the last time Tulane
would score. The Cougars came back with four runs in the bottom of the
sixth, one in the seventh
and two in the eighth, making the final
score 11-3.
Cooley contributed two runs to Sunday's
game, once after he led off the inning with a triple to right field and
later when he and junior Chris
Snyder hit back-to-back doubles.
Senior Keith Whatley was the starter on
the mound in Saturday's game. The southpaw had a 1.29 ERA in the game to
improve his overall ERA to
3.35. Whatley pitched seven innings for
the win, improving his record to 6-1.
Senior Nathan Mitchell came in for relief,
and junior Jesse Crain closed the game. Crain allowed no hits in 12 pitches
and faced just three
batters ending the game. Crain has a 0.00
ERA this season.
Crain, Cooley and Snyder each had two runs
apiece to lead the Cougars to an 11-1 victory on Saturday.
Friday's game belonged to sophomore pitcher
Brad Sullivan, who pitched a nine-inning shutout with 15 strikeouts to
improve his ERA to 1.01.
Sullivan allowed only four hits in his
nine innings on the mound Friday.
Cooley now leads the Cougars with five
home runs. Friday, Cooley hit a three-run home run to help the Cougars
take an 8-0 win over Tulane.
Cooley added a two-run home run Saturday
to help the Cougar cause.
"We had great pitching this weekend from
everybody. The bullpen was strong, the starters were strong, and that relaxes
the hitters," Cooley said.
The Cougars will face Fresno State at 7
p.m. Tuesday at Cougar Field before hitting the road for their next C-USA
match-up against Southern
Mississippi this weekend.
