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Baseball Knocks Off UC Santa Barbara 4-2 In Series Finale
March 9, 2008
HOUSTON - Freshman southpaw Ty Stuckey earned his first career win as the University of Houston baseball team beat UC Santa Barbara 4-2, Sunday in non-conference action at Cougar Field. Houston (8-5) scored all of its runs off home runs, never trailed in the game and notched a series win over the Gauchos (8-5). Stuckey scattered three hits over 5.1 innings, striking out four and giving up only one run. UH relievers Donnie Joseph and Chase Dempsay surrendered one run on six hits over the final three-plus innings. Dempsay earned his second save of the season. UH got on the board in the bottom of the first frame when a home run by Bryan Pounds handed the Cougars a 2-0 lead. Pounds, who extended his hitting streak to 13 games, sent a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall, scoring Bryan Tully who hit a two-out double and later stole third. It was the fourth home run of the season for Pounds. UCSB scored its first run of the game in the top of the third following a RBI groundout by Eric Oliver that scored Brian Gump who led off the inning with a triple. The Cougars scored another pair of runs in the third off the bat of Jake Stewart. After Dempsay led off with a walk, Stewart homered to left field on a 3-1 pitch. UH would strand two runners in the inning and six for the game. Stuckey left the game in the sixth with two runners on and one out after throwing 91 pitches. Joseph came in and after walking the first batter he faced to load the bases, got out of the jam by getting John DeAlba to pop up the first pitch he saw and striking out Robby Cummings on three pitches. Gump reached base for UCSB in the seventh off an error, one of four for UH in the game. He advanced to second and later scored off a double by Chris Fox. Joseph retired the final two batters to end the inning. Dempsay took the mound in the eighth and after giving up a leadoff single, got three-straight Gauchos to fly out to Stewart in left field. Dempsay loaded the bases off three-straight singles in the ninth after striking out the leadoff batter, but Mike Zuanich bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game. Gauchos' starter Chuck Huggins took the loss after surrendering all four Houston runs. He went five innings, walking three and striking out five. Michael Martin pitched three innings of one-hit shutout ball and struck out three. Tully finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored. Ryan Lormand also tallied a pair of hits. The Cougars close out a six-game homestand against Stephen F. Austin at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday at Cougar Field. On Wednesday, the Cougars play their first game outside of the Houston city limits when they travel to Huntsville to take on Sam Houston State at Don Sanders Stadium at 6:30 p.m. Next weekend, UH begins a four-game homestand against visiting San Francisco. The Cougars and Dons square off at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday before closing out the series at 1 p.m., Sunday. The homestand wraps up with a 6:30 p.m. game against Lamar on March 18. Fans can hear all Houston games live at UHCougars.com by clicking the appropriate links. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play, while former UH letterwinner Pat Cauley provides the analysis. Fans also can follow the live stats via the Internet by clicking the Gametracker link.
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