Houston’s 2023 season came to an end Saturday night in Clearwater as they bowed out of the conference Championship having gone 3-2.
. . .
After the completion of the Championship, the All-Tournament team was named and Justin Murray and Brandon Uhse were both named to the team . . . The list featured players by position, but there were no names listed for third base for some reason . . . It is reasonable to think that Zach Arnold could have been named to the All-Tournament team as well.
. . .
The end of the college baseball regular and tournament season saw Houston finish at the 100 spot in the RPI+ ranking created by College Baseball Nation . . . The RPI+ is not new this season, but it correctly chose 62 of the 64 teams that made the NCAA tournament field this year.
. . .
Pitching Coach Kyle Bunn will not be returning to Houston next season
. . .
Jake Scheiner hit his 15th home run of the season for AAA Tacoma on May 27.
. . .
Former Houston slugger Ryan Hernandez finally has a shot with a big league organization . . . Hernandez signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this week.
. . .
Former Cougars pitcher Logan Clayton was promoted to the Hillsboro Hops, the High-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 23 . . . Clayton opened the season with the Single-A Visalia Rawhide.
Clayton made six appearances out of the bullpen for Visalia and allowed just one run over 10 1/3 innings pitched while he struck out eleven batters.
Justin Murray has been named Player of the Week in The American for last week . . . From The Americans press release:
Murray aided the Cougars to a 3-1 week and maintained first place in The American’s standings by hitting .556 (10-18) with six runs scored, one double, one home run and seven RBI for the week. He also earned a win and a save from the mound in two relief outings during a sweep over Tulane.
. . .
Former Cougars first baseman Ryan Hernandez hit his first home run as a professional on Thursday for the Cleburne Railroaders of the American Association of Professional Baseball.
. . .
Connor Wong hit his fourth home run of the season on May 12 in a game against the Cardinals.
Houston is in New Orleans this weekend to face Tulane
Houston scored in each of the first four innings to build a nine run lead on their way to another series-opening win Friday night in New Orleans against Tulane.
Brandon Uhse got things going in the opening frame with a leadoff double . . . Zach Arnold then drove the next pitch deep to left-center field for a home run, his team-leading eleventh four-bagger of the season . . . Justin Murray (2-for-4) then singled but advanced to second base on a careless defensive throw to the infield . . . Cameron Nickens (2-for-4) then singled home Murray and the Cougars had a 3-0 first inning lead.
Ian McMillan (2-for-3) singled to reach base with one out in the top of the second inning . . . Drew Bianco followed with a towering double off the wall in right-center field to put runners at second and third base . . . Uhse then drove a fly ball deep enough to right field for McMillan to tag-up from third base and the sacrifice fly gave Houston a 4-0 lead.
Murray led off the top of the third inning by getting hit by a pitch . . . Nickens then singled up the middle . . . Anthony Tulimero then bunted for a single to load the bases with no outs . . . One out later, Brandon Burckel drove a ball deep to left-center field that was caught by the center fielder and scored Murray from third base . . . With runners on second and third base, McMillian delivered a two RBI single to right-center field and Houston increased its lead to 7-0.
Tulane finally went to the bullpen with one out in the top of the fourth inning after a single by Arnold, but the results after the change were much the same . . . Murray greeted the new pitcher with a bomb the opposite way, over the right field wall for a two-run home run and a 9-0 Houston lead.
Walks in the bottom of the fifth inning led to three runs for the Green Wave as Houston pitching had difficulty finding the strike zone . . . The third pitcher of the inning, Maddux Miller, was finally able to end the frame and the Cougars led 9-3 . . . Miller was tremendous in his Friday outing going 1 2/3 innings and allowing Green Wave batters just one base hit.
Right-hander Braedyn Cunningham went the rest of the way in relief of Miller and was also outstanding . . . Cunningham threw three hitless, scoreless innings to close out the Friday night road win.
The Cougars and the Green Wave resume their weekend series Saturday at 6pm . . . Houston has not announced a starting pitcher for Saturday at this time.
Josh Ekness made another strong start against Wichita State on Saturday
Houston used a four-run eighth inning to take a late lead against Wichita State on Friday night at Schroeder Park and the 5-3 win gave the Cougars sole possession of first place in The American.
The Cougars got their first hit of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning when Brandon Uhse doubled to the wall in left field with one out . . . Malachi Lott (2-for-3) followed with a single the opposite way through the hole at shortstop and third base to drive in Uhse and tie the game at one.
Houston starter Josh Ekness took the game into the seventh inning but was relieved by Dan Wright with two outs . . . Wright threw 1 1/3 innings without allowing a run.
Trailing 3-1, Lott led off the bottom of the eighth inning by dropping a single behind third base and shortstop to reach base . . . Ian McMillan followed by hammering a pitch toward shortstop that allowed McMillan to reach first base on the error . . . A ground out to the pitcher by Drew Bianco scored Lott from third base . . . Alex Lopez then singled up the middle to plate McMillan and tie the game.
Justin Murray (2-for-4) singled to right field with two outs and Brandon Burckel, pinch-running for Lopez, scored from second base, beating a throw to the plate, Murray advanced to second on the throw to the plate and the Cougars led by a run . . . After an intentional walk to Thomas Lyssy, a pickoff attempt at first base went a bit wild, rolling behind first base but staying on the infield, the ball rolled far enough away to allow Murray to score all the way from second base to score the fourth run of the inning and give Houston a 5-3 lead.
Murray came on to pitch the top of the ninth inning and despite two singles on the infield, he was able to get a weak chopper to Lyssy at first base who fielded and touched the bag to give Houston the victory . . . Murray earned his seventh save of the season.
Entering Friday’s action, Wichita State was ten spots ahead of Houston in College Baseball Nation’s RPI+ calculations at 79, a number to watch after the weekend unfolds.
The Cougars (27-19, 11-5) and the Shockers (27-18, 10-6) will continue their weekend series on Saturday . . . The Cougars have not yet named a starter for the game, but Kyle Ayers could make the start . . . First pitch is scheduled for 6:30pm at Schroeder Park.
Brandon Uhse led off against Rice Tuesday at Reckling Park
It took twelve innings on Wednesday night at Reckling Park but Houston eventually took the game 8-5 and with it Silver Glove Series from Rice.
Brandon Uhse hit the second pitch of the game for a leadoff single . . . Zach Arnold followed with a single of his own in front of a walk to Alex Lopez to load the bases with no outs . . . A bases loaded walk to Anthony Tulimero gave Houston the early lead . . . A wild pitch brought another run across the plate to give Houston a 2-0 first inning lead.
Rice tied the game almost immediately to reset the game going to the second inning.
Thomas Lyssy led off the top of the fourth inning by reaching base on an error by the Rice second baseman . . . One out later, Drew Bianco hammered a ball to the wall in deep right-center field to score Lyssy from first base . . . Arnold singled home Bianco to give Houston a 4-2 lead.
A leadoff walk to Ian McMillan started the top of the sixth inning . . . Bianco was hit by a pitch to put the first two Cougars batters of the inning on base with no outs . . . Arnold grounded out to second base to move both runners into scoring position . . . McMillan then scored on a wild pitch to give the Cougars a 5-4 lead.
Rice rallied for a run in the ninth to force the game into extra innings.
After two scoreless innings in extras, the Cougars offense delivered a three-run top of the twelfth inning to put the game away . . . Pinch-hitter Cary Arbolida walked with one out to get things started . . . Tulimero then reached base on catcher’s interference . . . Murray then pulled a single into left field as pinch-runner Brandon Burckel was moving with the pitch allowing him to cross the plate easily as the go ahead run . . . Nickens singled to plate Tulimero and the Cougars led by two runs . . . With runners on the corners, a pick-off attempt at first base allowed Murray to steal home for an 8-5 lead.
Owen Woodward came in to handle the bottom of the twelfth inning . . . After allowing a leadoff double, Woodward struck out the next two batters swinging and the final batter looking to strand the runner at second base and give Houston the Silver Glove Series for another year . . . Most of the 2,060 patrons had vacated Reckling Park as the ballgame ran 4 hours and 20 minutes.
The two teams combined to use 21 pitchers in the twelve inning midweek contest, the Cougars themselves used ten arms. In addition to Murray and Woodward, Houston pitched Graysen Drezek, Braedyn Cunningham, Ryan Dollar, Braden Forsyth, Dan Wright, Brendan O’Donnell, Maddux Miller, and Kyle Ayers . . . Only Wright and Ayers pitched more than two innings, with Ayers showing up clutch in the tenth and eleventh innings . . . Ayers got the win and improved to 2-1 this season and Woodward earned his fourth save this year.
Houston will host Wichita State at Schroeder Park this weekend for their second conference matchup of the season . . . The Cougars and the Shockers are tied for first place in the conference right now, so this weekend will create separation one way or the other . . . First pitch Friday night is scheduled for 6:30pm.
Zach Arnold named to the Honor Roll in the American for the third straight week . . . Per the conference press release: Arnold hit .500 (8-16) with four runs scored, two home runs and five RBI in four games for the Cougars, including a series win at UCF.
. . .
Houston was 2-2 last week with a 4-2 loss at home to Lamar and a conference series win at UCF.
. . .
The Cougars finished April with a record of 12-6.
. . .
Houston will play at Rice on Wednesday for game two of this years Silver Glove Series . . . Houston leads the series 1-0 after a 14-13 win over the Owls on April 4 at Schroeder Park . . . The two teams face each other twice in a week to decide the winner this year, May 3 and May 10, both games at Reckling Park and both games set to begin at 6:30pm.
Houston will then host Wichita State this weekend . . . The Cougars and the Shockers are tied atop the conference standings, so this weekend will separate the two teams . . . The forecast for this weekend looks sketchy, right now, so stay tuned for potential schedule updates as Friday gets closer . . . As of right now, first pitch Friday at Schroeder Park is scheduled for 6:30pm.
. . .
Former Cougars catcher Connor Wong hit his first home run of the season in a 7-1 win against Cleveland on Sunday . . . For Wong the home run was part of a 2-for-4 effort.
. . .
RPI+
After all the action this weekend, with the exception of today’s Texas at TCU game, this is where teams stand according to RPI+ by College Baseball Nation.
This is just a sampling of teams Houston has played or will play, and some Big 12 teams are in there to show where those teams compare to Houston at the moment, but obviously the conference standings would be much different if Houston and UCF were already in the Big 12.
Houston Cougars Baseball Beat 