Houston left-hander Antoine Jean was just named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year by the Conference this afternoon.
In perhaps his most dominant outing of the season for the Cougars, Jean pitched five scoreless innings at UCF in March . . . Jean recorded 15 outs in the road victory, 11 of them by strikeout.
Jean also turned in a terrific performance in his outing against Kansas State on April 27 . . . Jean took the mound with just one out in the first inning as things had started to unravel for the Cougars . . . Jean pitched thru the seventh inning and set up Houston for the eventual 6-5 victory to salvage a game in the road series . . . Over 6 2/3 innings, Jean struck out eight batters in the potent Kansas State offense.
In Big 12 play this season, Jean went 3-0 with 72 strikeouts. Jean struck out five or more batters in nine of the 12 Big 12 games in which he pitched.
Jean was also named to the All-Big 12 First Team, the only Houston player named to any of the All-Big 12 lists.
Houston and Kansas State will play the final game of the first day of the 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday at 8:00pm CT . . . Houston will enter the Championship as the #11 seed of the 12 teams in the field, Kansas State will be the #6 seed.
With three games scheduled to be played before the Houston/Kansas State game, delays in the start time are both possible and to be expected . . . With games scheduled at 9:00am, 12:30pm, and 4:00pm and the necessary field preparations between the game, an 8:00pm start is unlikely.
The Cougars and the Wildcats played a three-game series in Manhattan in April, with Kansas State winning the first two games before Houston claimed the finale.
The winner of the Wednesday night game will face #3 seed TCU (37-17, 19-11) in the last game Thursday night, technically scheduled to get underway at 7:30pm . . . The game will be TCU’s first game of the Championship as they are one of the four teams to get a first day bye in Arlington.
Houston concluded its regular season earlier today with a loss to Arizona at Schroeder Park . . . The Cougars finished the regular season with an overall record of 29-24 and a 12-17 record in Big 12 action.
Robert Gasser Made His MLB Debut Friday in Milwaukee
By Steve Parkhurst
Life comes full circle sometimes; we all know that.
Baseball life often sees those circles form a lot sooner, just by the nature of the sport.
Just over three years ago, March 5, 2021, to be exact, I watched in person from the press box, what I consider to be the finest pitcher’s duel I have ever seen in person in all my baseball days at any level of baseball.
Power versus power, lefty versus righty, experienced veteran versus relative newcomer.
I was there on the campus of the University of Houston on that Friday night when the Texas Longhorns came to town sporting a No. 19 national ranking on their way to a College World Series appearance in Omaha.
Texas ace Ty Madden was on the mound that night and he was opposed by Houston left-hander Robert Gasser in his only full season with the Cougars, he was on the 2020 roster when the season was brought to an end in early March because of the pandemic.
Madden pitched a complete game two-hit shutout and Texas won the game 1-0. Madden also added 14 strikeouts. Gasser pitched seven scoreless innings for Houston and struck out five batters. The game was lost the inning after Gasser departed, the sole run in the game scored on a bases loaded walk in the eighth inning.
That summer, Madden was drafted by the Detroit Tigers at the end of the first round with the 32nd overall pick. Gasser was drafted the next day by the San Diego Padres in the second round of the draft with the 71st overall pick.
On August 1, 2022, Gasser was traded to Milwaukee as part of the deal that sent All-Star pitcher Josh Hader to the Padres. Gasser fundamentally did nothing but impress in the Brewers minor league system and his promotion to the big club seemed imminent. An injury sidelined Gasser for the beginning of the 2024 season, but he started in three games with the first coming on April 24.
Friday night in Milwaukee, nearly three years since he threw his last pitch for Houston on May 25, 2021, Gasser made his Major League Baseball debut for the Brewers against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The memories came flooding back last night. Not just of that Friday night in 2021, but of that season overall with all the challenges of the pandemic precautions and the long season that was the 2021 season.
Gasser pitched six scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and struck out four Cardinals batters while not allowing any walks. Gasser threw 79 pitches, 55 of them for strikes. And perhaps the best stat of all, Gasser is 1-0 on the year as a result of the Brewers 11-2 victory.
After the game, Gasser was asked about preparing for his debut and how he handled the day leading up to the game. His response was as cool as six innings of work on the mound.
“Early in the day it was tough. A lot of sitting around, not doing a whole lot, just thinking, but once I was in my routine and finding the flow it came natural, Gasser said. “I don’t want to say it was another game, but that was the mindset I was trying to have: get the first couple of pitches out of the way and just get going from there.”
“That was pretty impressive how he just went out there and executed what he wanted to do. Seemed like he had his emotions and everything under control,” Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich said after the game. “It was six really big innings for us.”
“He’s a big strike thrower, he goes right after every batter,” Brewers teammate Sal Frelick said after the game when asked about Gasser’s makeup as a pitcher. “When he was out there he didn’t see names on the back of jerseys as maybe a lot of guys would. It was just another game for him, I think, and that’s just how he goes about his business. So to see him execute out there was really cool.”
Madden has not appeared in a MLB game as of yet, and this is not a fair comparison of these two pitchers as different teams have different needs and whatnot.
This whole event has me wondering about the status of the Houston players drafted in the last couple of years, or what players might I be watching play their final games with Houston this weekend and next that might be making their own MLB debut in three years, or maybe four or five.
I cannot stop and think about that right now though, the next full circle is taking shape.
Duncan Howard made the start against Texas Saturday
Texas edged out Houston 6-5 on Saturday night at Schroeder Park to even the weekend series and set up a deciding game on Sunday afternoon.
Texas got a run in the game’s opening frame when a fly ball to center field was allowed to drop in for a base hit, scoring one and giving the Longhorns the early . . . Texas added two more runs in the top of the third inning to take a 3-0 lead.
Cameron Nickens led off the bottom of the third inning with a single into right-center field and Coby DeJesus followed with a single into left field . . . One out later, Anthony Tulimero (3-for-4) got Houston on the board with a run-scoring single . . . Harold Coll was walked to load the bases . . . Ace Reese (2-for-4) drove a fly ball deep into the left field corner near the foul line and it dropped just fair as it was mis-played by the Texas left fielder allowing two-runs to score on the single.
The Cougars trailed 5-3 after the seventh inning stretch, DeJesus got the inning started with a line drive home run over the left field fence . . . With one out, Tulimero hit a drive in nearly the same place, though a little further and with less doubt, and the game was tied at five on his third home run of the season.
A leadoff home run for Texas in the top of the ninth inning proved to be the difference in the ballgame as the Longhorns escaped with a 6-5 victory to even the series.
Alex Solis took the mound in the top of the ninth inning with runners at first and second base and only one out . . . Solis got a swinging strikeout and another one looking to end the threat, striking out the only two batters he faced . . . Michael Benzor pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the eighth inning, working around a dropped fly ball in left field that resulted in a runner on third base with no outs.
Houston and Texas will conclude their series Sunday afternoon with a rubber match at Schroder Park . . . First pitch is set for 1pm.
Five players with some sort of a connection to the University of Houston baseball program heard they name called over the three days of 2023 MLB Draft which started Sunday evening and ended Tuesday afternoon.
Two Cougars from the 2023 Cougars roster were drafted on Tuesday.
Josh Ekness was drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 12th Round, with the 353rd overall pick.
Zach Arnold was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 14th Round, with the 433rd overall pick.
Two incoming Houston Cougars were also chosen on Tuesday.
Nehomar Ochoa from Galena Park High School, was chosen in the 11th Round by the Houston Astros with the 344th pick.
Jaxon Jelkin, a pitcher from South Mountain CC in Arizona was chosen by the Los Angeles Dodgers with the 430th overall pick in the 14th Round.
Former Cougar Craig Yoho, who played at Houston in 2019 and 2020 before transferring to Indiana, was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 8th Round on Monday with the 242nd overall pick . . . Prior to the 2023 season, after having missed two seasons with injuries, Yoho’s last appearance in college baseball was in a Houston uniform on March 6, 2020 at Arizona . . . Yoho played nine games as a position player while with the Cougars.
Alex Lopez and Justin Murray have been named to the weekly Honor Roll the American Athletic Conference announced today.
From the conference press release:
Alex Lopez, Jr., UTL, Houston
Lopez hit .375 (6-16) with three runs, a double, a triple, a home run and four RBI. He had the go-ahead 3-run home run in the seventh inning of a series clincher against East Carolina.
Justin Murray, Jr., P, Houston
Murray saw action in three contests last week, throwing 6.2 scoreless innings. He earned the win against East Carolina on Friday night and picked up the save in Sunday’s victory.
Travis Phelps delivers the first pitch Tuesday night at Schroeder Park
Houston dominated the Prairie View A&M Panthers 17-4 Tuesday night at Schroeder Park in a game that did not seem close after the Cougars scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning.
The victory may have come with a cost though as for the second time in less than two weeks a Houston starting pitcher left with an apparent injury in the first inning . . . Travis Phelps left with an unknown injury at the time, though he might have been injured on an attempted backward swat at a ball hit up the middle . . . Phelps did not look right after the play and a few pitches later coaches visited the mound and removed him from the game at which point he bypassed the dugout and went straight to the training facility.
The midweek game was lined up to be a bullpen game anyway, the injury just sped up the process . . . In total, the Cougars used nine pitchers against the Panthers and allowed just four hits in the complete nine inning game.
First year Cougar Thomas Lyssy went 2-for-3 with four RBI . . . The Cougars also scored seventeen runs without the help of a home run.
The Cougars are off until Friday when they will welcome the Oklahoma Sooners for a weekend series . . . The Sooners have a different roster from the team that won the Big 12 last season and played in the final series for the College World Series . . . First pitch on Friday night at Schroeder Park is scheduled for 6:30pm.
On the Minor League Baseball website a short blurb announced that Joe Davis has retired from professional baseball.
Davis, the all-time Houston home run leader, was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2019 and remained in their system thru the 2022 season. There was no minor league baseball in 2020, so after being drafted and getting initiated in a brief 2019 stint, Davis did not play again until the 2021 season.
Davis hit 42 home runs and drove in 150 runs while batting .274 over his three professional seasons.
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