Houston started hot against No. 1 Texas A&M on Tuesday in College Station, but the Aggies came away 13-11 winners to improve to 26-1 at Blue Bell Park this season.
Three straight singles by Houston opened the game, first by Coby DeJesus then by Justin Murray (3-for-4) . . . Anthony Tulimero picked up the third straight single as a blooper off his bat dropped into right-center field scoring DeJesus . . . Harold Coll grounded out, becoming the first out in the inning, but he brought Murray across the plate with his RBI and Houston had a two-run lead.
Ace Reese singled to right field to move Tulimero to third base with two outs . . . Reese got caught up in a rundown attempting to steal second and the Aggies defense focused on recording the out, which they did, but not prior to Tulimero crossing the plate before the inning ended and the Cougars led 3-0.
A five-run bottom of the second inning for the Aggies was followed by a three-run bottom of the third inning and a five run Texas A&M lead, 8-3.
Reese got a run back for Houston in the top of the fourth inning when he led off with a home run, driving a ball the opposite way over the left field wall . . . The blast was Reese’s sixth home run of the season.
The Aggies added two runs in the bottom half of the inning and single runs over the next three innings to build a 13-6 lead.
With one out in the top of the eighth inning, Conner Bennett drew a walk in a pinch-hit appearance . . . One out later, Anthony Avalos also made a pinch-hit appearance, and he sent a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left field, his first collegiate base hit and home run made it 13-8 Aggies.
Still in the top of the eighth, Murray singled into left field and then Alex Lopez was hit by a pitch . . . Coll hit a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall for a three-run shot and Houston only trailed 13-11.
After the Coll home run, the Aggies went to the hammer out of their bullpen to record the final four outs . . . The Cougars had the potential tying run on base with two outs in the top of the ninth inning but could not capitalize.
Reese was 3-for-5 on Tuesday, which was the first time he had three base hits in a game this season despite a great freshman year . . . Reese and Murray were the only Cougars with multiple hits in the game, each had three, and together they accounted for half of Houston’s hits on Tuesday.
Houston used eight pitchers the game, so plenty of arms got some work in during the loss . . . Texas A&M used nine pitchers.
The Cougars are off until Friday when they open a non-Big 12 conference weekend series with the Mavericks of UT Arlington . . . First pitch at Schroeder Park is set for 6:30pm.
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