Houston Falls in Huntsville, Sanders Cup Series Even

Sam Houston evened the Don Sanders Cup series with an 8-5 win over Houston in Huntsville on Tuesday night to set up a winner-take-all game on May 14 in Sugar Land.

Anthony Tulimero hit a home run off of the left field foul pole with two outs in the top of the first inning for an early 1-0 Houston lead.

The lead was erased in the bottom half of the inning as the Bearkats plated two runs to take their own one-run lead.

Ace Reese tripled to get the top of the second inning started . . . Jonathan French brought Reese across the plate on a ground out RBI to first base to tie the game.

But once again, the Bearkats took the lead back in the bottom of the inning one a two-run home run.

Trailing 7-2 in the top of the fifth inning, Justin Murray got a run back with a one-out solo home run to left-center field.

French walked one inning later with one out and scored on a double to right-center field off the bat of Jacob Schoenvogel (3-for-4) . . . With two outs, Coby DeJesus singled up the middle to score Schoenvogel from third base . . . The two-run sixth inning was the final time the Cougars would score in the game as they fell by a final score of 8-5.

Harold Coll was 3-for-4 in the game hitting in the cleanup spot, joining Schoenvogel as the only two Houston batters with multiple hits Tuesday night.

Ryan Dollar had a nice outing for Houston, pitching the final two innings of the game and allowing just one base hit while striking out three Bearkats batters . . . Overall, the Cougars pitching staff allowed seven free passes and struck out six batters.

The Sam Houston victory means that the neutral site meeting between the two teams on May 14 will be the deciding game of the 2024 Don Sanders Cup series . . . The annual neutral site game will take place at Constellation Field in Sugar Land.

Houston will next be in action on Friday when the Texas Longhorns will visit Schroeder Park for a Big 12 weekend series . . . Friday’s game will open the first and only Big 12 matchup between the former Southwest Conference foes . . . Game one gets underway at 6:30pm.

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