TUCSON – The Houston Cougars arrived in Arizona fresh off a win at Rice on Wednesday night, attempting to put together their first back-to-back wins on the young season. The Arizona Wildcats were having none of it.
The Cougars faced a typically strong Friday night starter in Arizona’s Garrett Irvin, and they were not able to get much going against the strong lefty.
Tyler Bielamowicz in the leadoff spot, seemed to have the only beat on Irvin and the rest of the Wildcats pitching staff, reaching base in all four of his plate appearances, twice on singles, once on a hit-by-pitch, and once on an error by the Arizona third baseman . . . It has been said many times in the history of the game, put the ball in play, and anything can happen . . . An error by the third baseman counts as “anything.”
Trailing 2-0 in the top of the fourth, Bielamowicz led off with one of his two singles, and Ryan Hernandez would single behind him. After a double-play put Bielamowicz at third, an error at second on a Rey Mendoza batted ball allowed Bielomowicz to score the Cougars only run of the night.
Arizona did not explode for a massive run-scoring inning at any point, but they nibbled and scored in five of their eight innings at the plate, flustering Cougar pitching, which also walked ten batters while striking out nine . . . Isaiah Blaylock had an effective outing, going 1 1/3 inning in relief of starter Lael Lockhart Jr., only allowing an unearned run and one hit.
Cole Ferguson came out of the bullpen for the eighth inning for only the second time this season, having just made his debut as a Cougar last Sunday against Texas State . . . Cole only allowed a single, which was subsequently wiped out on a double-play behind him, and he only threw a total of six pitches in the inning.
In the 7-1 Wildcats win, Arizona’s Irvin improved to 4-0 on the season with his 6 2/3 innings of work . . . Bielamowicz was the only Cougar with multiple hits, raising his batting average to .317 in the process.
The two teams square off again Saturday afternoon, first pitch is at 5pm Central Time from Tucson. –
Houston Cougars Baseball Beat 