Houston’s limited luck against Wichita State (1-9 in the previous 10 contests) improved on Saturday night as the Cougars won 5-3 to even the weekend series in a game they never trailed.
Houston scored its first run of the weekend when Malachi Lott singled into left-center with one out to score Anthony Tulimero (3-for-4) from second base . . . Lott stole second base and was still there one out later when Ian McMillan hit a home run to left field to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead.
Still 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh, Brandon Burckel (2-for-2) walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch before he scored on a Brandon Uhse sacrifice fly to center field . . . Zach Arnold was the next batter and he blistered a baseball high into the Houston night that landed on the other side of the left field wall and Houston led 5-0 . . . The solo home run was Arnold’s fifth home run of the season.
Nathan Medrano was largely in cruise control all night scattering six hits over 7 1/3 innings and striking out nine, a career-high, before exiting the game in favor of Ben Sears with one out in the eighth . . . Sears struck out the two batters he faced in the eighth to end the inning . . . The Shockers added a couple of runs in the ninth to close the gap but Sears closed out the 5-3 victory . . . Medrano improved to 4-1 on the season with the win.
The Cougars and the Shockers play the deciding game in the weekend series on Sunday at Schroeder Park with a scheduled first pitch at 1pm.
Houston Cougars Baseball Beat 