Sports

UH offense fixes Bobcats

By Stuart H. Clements
The Daily Cougar

Once the Houston baseball team finally decided it wanted to win Tuesdayis game against Southwest Texas State, it did -- handily.

Nathan Lindstrom/The Daily Cougar

The Cougars moved to 18-15 on the season, and head into this weekendis three-game series against Conference USA foe Tulane with a four-game winning streak.

The Bobcats tallied four errors to help the Cougars, and were forced to use six pitchers in eight innings.

The Cougars werenit exactly playing a perfect game Tuesday, but they did well enough to win.

Houston sent seven pitchers to the mound with junior Gene Flores starting. Flores went only three innings and gave up five earned runs on six hits, while striking out four. Floresi ERA inflated to 7.17 after the appearance Tuesday.

Senior Bryan Harris followed Flores on the mound, and picked up the win. Harris pitched for one inning after Flores loaded the bases, and it was just long enough for every inherited run on base to score, but no other.

The Cougar offense started slow but picked up as the game progressed.

Junior Hyung Cho opened the scoreboard in the bottom of the first when he knocked his sixth home run of the season to put the Cougars on top.

The Bobcats captured the lead in the third inning, but Houston retaliated in the bottom of the frame with four runs as Cho and junior Thanos Papavasiliou hit back-to-back doubles. Papavasiliouis double drove in freshman Travis Tully and Cho to put the Cougars back on top.

Later in the same inning, sophomore Stuart Musslewhite hit a two-RBI double to give the Cougars a comfortable 5-2 advantage.

But the pitching and the offense were not yet on the same page. In the top of the fourth, Flores and Harris allowed the Bobcats to re-enter the game with three runs to tie the game at 5-5.

The Cougar offense hadnit had enough just yet. Sophomore catcher Brett Logan reached base off a bunt, and Cho drove the run in with his second double of the game to recapture the lead 6-5.

Houston added four more in the bottom of the fourth with the help of a two-RBI triple from freshman Matt Farrington.

The Cougars added two more in the fifth, and then Cho added two more in the seventh off a two-run homer -- his seventh of the season -- to put Houston up 14-5.

SWT came back with one in the eighth to make the final score 14-6, but would see no more from its offense Tuesday.

In addition to going four-for-five, Cho tied two UH single-game records by scoring five runs and lacing four extra-base hits.

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