Baseball Earns Series Win After 10-8 Victory Over San Francisco
March 16, 2008
HOUSTON - Bryan Pounds extended his career-long hitting streak to 18 games, as the University of Houston baseball team rolled to a 10-8 win over San Francisco on a windy Sunday at Cougar Field. Pounds has hit safely in each of his 16 games this season, finishing 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI and a run scored in the game. Houston (12-6) posted its eighth win in its last ten games, including six of its last seven. The Dons fell to 8-10 on the season. The teams combined for five errors on the day as the wind swirled around the stadium, gusting to more than 25 miles per hour. Barrett Bruce improved to 3-0 on the season after earning the win in relief. Bruce tossed two innings, allowing only one unearned run and fanning four. Bruce led a trio of Cougar relievers, as he, Jimmy Raviele and John Touchton combined to allow only two unearned runs in five innings to preserve the win for Houston. Touchton notched his second save of the year, tossing shutout innings in the eighth and ninth to close out the game. Austin Goolsby recorded a career-high three RBI to lead the Cougars. He finished 1-for-2 with a walk, a run scored and a stolen base. Matt Murphy went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored, while Zak Presley finished 3-for-4 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. Jimmy Cesario and Ryan Lormand each added a hit and combined to score four runs. Houston scored five runs in the third and three more in the fourth to open a 9-1 lead. San Francisco scored six times in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 9-7, but the Cougars' bullpen stopped the hemorrhaging, allowing only a single run in the final four innings The Cougars return to action at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, when Houston faces Lamar at Cougar Field as the team wraps up a four-game homestand. Fans can hear all the action from Tuesday's game live at UHCougars.com. Jeremy Branham calling the play-by-play, while former UH letterwinner Pat Cauley provides the analysis. Fans also can follow live stats from the game via the Internet by clicking the GameTracker link on the UH homepage. The Dons jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Drew Johnson led off the frame with a double to right center, stealing third with one out before scoring on Ryan Lipkin's groundout to second. The Cougars responded, tying the score at 1-1 in the bottom half of the second. Matt Murphy led off with a single to right field, advancing to second on Austin Goolsby's sac bunt. Zak Presley followed, dumping a two-out single into short left to plate Murphy. Houston grabbed the lead in the bottom of the third, driving in five runs in the frame. Jake Stewart led off with a double to short right field. Pounds followed, rapping out a single to left field to drive in Stewart. Following back-to-back walks to Jimmy Cesario and Ryan Lormand, Dons starter Brian Anderson was pulled before recording an out in the frame. Reliever Matt Lujan was greeted with two-run singles by freshman Matt Murphy and Goolsby, as the Cougars opened up a 6-1 lead. Houston extended its lead to 9-1, adding three runs in the fourth. Cesario led off with a single back to the pitcher and advanced to second on Lujan's error. Lormand followed with a single through the right side to put runners on the corners. Lormand took second on a wild pitch. Both runners scored on Goolsby's sac fly when Dons rightfielder Kyle Morgan dropped the fly ball, allowing Goolsby to advance all the way to third. Bryan Tully followed with a sac fly to center to drive in the Cougars' third run. San Francisco battled back in the fifth, scoring six runs to cut the Cougars' lead to 9-7. After walking the bases loaded, Stuckey allowed the first run of the inning on a Joey Railey RBI-single. Stuckey was pulled after walking Connor Bernatz with the bases loaded. Barrett Bruce entered the game in relief and allowed RBI-singles to Derek Poppert and Mitchell Bialosky before striking out pinch hitter Matt Lieb for the first out of the inning. San Francisco would add runs on Kyle Morgan's fielder's choice and Bruce's fielding error on Ryan Lipkin's dribbler. The Cougars added a single run in the bottom of the seventh to push their lead to three runs at 10-7. Presley led off with a single and stole second base. Following two line-outs to right field, Pounds drove in his second run of the game, delivering Presley on a base knock to left field. The Dons plated a run in the eighth on Bernatz's sac fly, but would go down with nothing doing in the ninth to end the game.
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