Stewart's Ninth-Inning Hit Leads Baseball Past SFA 5-4
March 11, 2008
HOUSTON - Senior outfielder Jake Stewart's one-out, RBI-single in the bottom of the ninth lifted the University of Houston baseball team to a 5-4 win over Stephen F. Austin Tuesday at Cougar Field. Stewart continued the Cougars' comeback ways, as UH posted its sixth come-from-behind win this season. The game also marked the second time this season that Stewart sent the fans home happy with a walk-off, game-winning hit. Chris Wallace reached base on an error to start the ninth. Zak Presley belted a single to center to advance Wallace to second and Blake Kelso laid down a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third with one out. Stewart stepped to the plate and sent the 1-2 pitch from SFA's Erik Gregersen laced the ball through the left side scoring Wallace to end the game. Houston (9-5) wrapped up its season-long six game homestand with a 5-1 mark. UH moved to a 33-10 lead in the all-time series. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for SFA (8-6) who have not won a game on the UH campus since 1983. The Lumberjacks struck for two runs in the third inning and chased Houston starter John Touchton after Noel Trevino tripled to lead off the fifth. Chris Wright entered the game in relief and stranded Trevino at third. Wright tossed four innings and struck out a career-high eight batters to keep the Cougars in the game. Houston struck for two runs in the sixth and two more in the eighth to take a 4-2 lead heading into the ninth inning. Sean Meyers homered off closer Chase Dempsay to knot the score at four, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth and setting up Stewart's late-game heroics. First baseman Bryan Pounds' double in the fourth inning extended his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games, dating back to last season. Pounds has hit safely in each of his 12 games this year. The Cougars return to action Wednesday when they travel to face Sam Houston at 6:30 p.m. CDT at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntsville. Fans can hear the game live at UHCougars.com by clicking the appropriate link. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play. Fans also can follow the live stats via the Internet by clicking the GameTracker link. The Lumberjacks drove in the game's first runs in the top of the third inning, plating two runners on Kai Kirby's home run to right field. Trailing by two after five innings, Houston got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth. After back-to-back walks to Kelso and Stewart to open the frame, Pounds singled through the left side to load the bases. Jimmy Cesario drove home the inning's first run on a sacrifice fly to left field. Ryan Lormand followed with an RBI-single to bring home the Cougars' second run. The Cougars would take their first lead of the game in the bottom of the eighth. Bryan Tully led off with a walk and advanced to second on Pounds' sac bunt. Cesario followed with a single up the middle to second Tully home. Cesario took third on a wild pitch and scored on pitcher Gregersen's balk. Touchton lasted four innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs, striking out five and walking four. He gave way to Wright who sent down all 12 batters he faced. Dempsay came in and earned the win, moving his record to 2-1 on the season. He pitched one inning, giving up one hit and two runs and fanning a batter. Rich Folmer took the loss for SFA, dropping to 2-2 on the season. He gave up two hits and one run in one-third of an inning.
|
