Cougars Plate Eight Again, Open Season 2-0

Antoine Jean started against Binghamton Saturday afternoon at Schroeder Park

With temperatures in the upper 40s most of the afternoon, the Houston Cougars kept warm by running the bases in an 8-2 victory over the Binghamton Bearcats on Saturday at Schroeder Park.

Binghamton took a 1-0 in the second inning after a leadoff triple led to a run on a groundout by the next batter in the frame.

Second baseman Harold Coll led off the bottom of the third inning with a double to the left field wall and he advanced to third base on a wild pitch . . . Ace Reese then tied the game at one with a sacrifice fly to left field.

Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Justin Murray lined a double into left field . . . Tre Jones followed with a RBI single into right-center field, Jones then proceeded to steal second and third base before being thrown out at home plate on a fielder’s choice . . . With Cameron Nickens on first base with two outs, Coll lifted a high fly ball into shallow right-center field which eventually fell in for a single that scored Nickens from first base to give the Cougars a 3-1 lead.

Graysen Drezek took the mound in relief of starter Antoine Jean to start the top of the fifth inning . . . After retiring all three batters he faced in the fifth inning, Drezek worked around two base hits and a hit batter to strike out the side in the sixth inning while protecting the two-run Houston lead.

The Bearcats got a run back in the top of the seventh inning to close the Houston lead to a run at 3-2.

After the seventh inning stretch, Jake Rainess lifted a fly ball the opposite way to right field and the ball eventually drifted over the right field wall just inside the foul pole for a two-run home run to extend the Houston lead to 5-2.

Things unraveled further for the Bearcats pitching staff in the bottom of the eighth inning as three walks, a hit batter, and three wild pitches allowed the Cougars to add three runs to tally.

Jose Torrealba handled the eighth and ninth innings for the Cougars in dominant fashion . . . Torrealba retired all six batters he faced, striking out three of them and earning the save with the 8-2 victory.

The Cougars scored eight runs for the second straight game to open the season . . . With his fourth inning double, Murray extended his hitting streak to 17 games . . . Jones has two stolen bases in each of the first two games and is a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts to begin the season . . . Drezek earned his first win of the season with his two scoreless innings of work.

Houston and Binghamton close out the opening weekend series with an 11am first pitch on Sunday at Schroeder Park.

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Cougars Open 2024 Campaign with 8-4 Victory

Jaxon Jelkin opened 2024 against Binghamton Friday night at Schroeder Park

It did not take long for the feeling of baseball season to begin anew on Friday night at Schroeder Park as the Houston Cougars opened the 2024 season with an 8-4 victory over Binghamton.

Jaxon Jelkin worked around a two-out single and struck out the side in the opening frame . . . Then newcomer Jake Rainess led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple and things were underway.

Alex Lopez grounded out to first base to plate Rainess and the Cougars took a first inning 1-0 lead.

The Bearcats used the next two innings to claw back and take a 3-1 lead.

Houston responded with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning when a wild pick-off throw to first base plated Justin Murrary from third base.

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, freshman Ace Reese singled and Cary Arbolida doubled in the eighth and ninth spots respectively to lead off the inning . . . Rainess brought home the tying run on a sacrifice fly before Alex Lopez popped a fly ball into shallow left-center that fell to the ground for an error allowing the go-ahead run to score . . . Lopez scored on a wild pitch and Houston led 5-3.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Cougars sent eight men to the plate with three of them eventually scoring en route to a 8-3 Cougars lead . . . Cameron Nickens provided the big blow with a two RBI single through the left side of the infield with two outs.

Binghamton got a run back in the top of the eighth inning after a leadoff triple was followed by a RBI single . . . But right-hander Owen Woodward induced a double play to short stop on his way to finishing off the eighth inning without further damage.

Justin Murray took the mound in the top of the ninth inning to protect an 8-4 lead . . . Murray promptly struck out all three batters he faced and made Houston opening night winners.

Newcomer Tre Jones was 3-for-4 in his Cougars debut with two singles, a double, and a stolen base . . . Jones was the only Houston batter with multiple hits, despite the Cougars picking up eleven hits in the game.

“Tre jones had a great night,” said head coach Todd Whitting after the game. “He can change games with speed and power.”

Chris Stuart, also making his Houston debut, threw two scoreless innings in relief of Jelkin before Woodward took the mound for the seventh inning . . . Stuart earned the win for his efforts.

The Houston offense scored eight runs in the game and on many nights that would be the story.

After the game, Coach Whitting was quick to look at the pitching and defense, “Pitching was lights out,” Whitting said, simply adding “fifteen strikeouts and zero bases in balls.”

“Woodward getting that 6-4-3 double play was huge. That was a big play,” said Whitting.

The Cougars and the Bearcats pick things up again on Saturday when they will play the middle game of the series . . . Weather altered the schedule prior to the beginning of the series and first pitch Saturday is now scheduled for 3pm at Schroeder Park.

National Signing Day 2023

Wednesday was National Signing Day across the country, and the University of Houston baseball team inked numerous high school seniors to letters of intent. The signees include: Mac Anderson, Cody Cashon, Trip Dobson, Cam Harris, Kade Irons, Jax Marshall, Jerry Medina III, Landon Miller, Braylon Payne, Chris Perez, Logan Reid, and Sage Sanders.

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2024 Houston Cougars Baseball Schedule

As the 2024 schedule begins to take shape, we only know a few of the 56 games planned at this point.

February 16-18 vs. Binghamton

February 20 vs. Prairie View A&M

February 23-25 vs. St. John’s

February 27 vs. UTSA

March 1, 11:05am vs. Texas State at Minute Maid Park

March 2, 11:05am vs. Vanderbilt at Minute Maid Park

March 3, 7:05pm vs. Louisiana at Minute Maid Park

March 5 vs. Sam Houston

March 8-10 vs. Baylor

March 14-16 at BYU

March 19 vs. Rice at Schroeder Park

March 20 vs. Rice at Reckling Park

March 22-24 vs. Kansas State

March 28-30 at TCU

April 2 vs. Rice at Schroeder Park

April 5-7 at Texas Tech

April 9 at Sam Houston

April 12-14 vs. Texas

April 16 vs. Houston Christian at Schroeder Park

April 19-21 at Cincinnati

April 26-28 vs. UT Arlington

May 1 vs. McNeese

May 3-5 vs. UCF

May 7 vs. Nicholls

May 10-12 at Kansas

May 14 vs. Sam Houston (at Constellation Field in Sugar Land)

May 16-18 vs. Oklahoma

May 21-25 Big 12 Championship at Globe Life Park in Arlington

Cougars Notebook – October 2, 2023

Jared Triolo played in six games the final week of the season . . . Triolo had hits in four straight games, he had two hits in three of the four games before going hitless in the season finale on Sunday . . . Triolo finished the season with a .298 batting average, a .786 OPS, three home runs, and 21 RBI over two stints with the Pirates . . . Defensively, Triolo played games at at first base, second base, and third base.

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Connor Wong completed the 2023 season having been on the Boston Red Sox active roster the entire season, never making a trip to the injured list or missing any time . . . Wong played in 121 games, four of them at second base, Wong started at catcher in 105 games . . . Defensively, Wong finished in the top 10 in catching 18 runners trying to steal . . . Offensively, Wong finished with nine home runs on the season.

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Former Cougars left-hander John King finished his 2023 campaign with two scoreless outings of one inning each, September 30 and October 1, both against the Cincinnati Reds in St. Louis . . . In Sunday’s outing, King recorded three outs, two of them by strikeout . . . King ended the season with a 3.62 ERA and compiled 20 strike outs in 37 1/3 innings pitched . . . It is worth mentioning once again that King’s numbers reflect part of his season with the Texas Rangers before being traded near the trade deadline in late July.

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Cougars Notebook – September 25, 2023

As the season winds down, and the minor leagues have completed their regular seasons, there are fewer and fewer things to report.

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Jared Triolo played in four games for the Pirates last week . . . In the last three games of the week, Triolo was 2-for-3 with a solo home run, 4-for-5 with a double, and 2-for-3 with another double . . . Triolo enters this week with a three game hitting streak.

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John King tossed a scoreless frame in San Diego against the Padres on September 23 . . . King lowered his ERA this season to 3.82, split between his time with Rangers and Cardinals.

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Cougars Notebook – September 18, 2023

Former Cougars right-hander Nick Hernandez was promoted to the San Diego Padres on September 11 . . . Hernandez made his MLB debut on September 12 in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium where he pitched two innings in relief.

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Jared Triolo played in three games last week, and he made appearances at various positions in addition to third base . . . Triolo spent time at first base and second base defensively . . Triolo went 2-for-3 Sunday against the Yankees in a 3-2 Pirates victory.

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John King made three relief appearances last week, all of them one inning . . . The September 12 and September 13 outings were scoreless.

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Former Cougars Jake Scheiner and Austin Pruitt both remain sidelined with injuries.

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Cougars Notebook – September 11, 2023

Connor Wong played in four games over the last week and he had a hit in three of those games . . . Wong hit a triple to right field in Tampa Bay against the Rays on September 6 and homered against the Baltimore Orioles on September 8 . . . Wong has hit in each of his last three games, five hits total in that span, and he has one RBI in each of those three games, he carries both streaks into this new week.

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John King made one appearance last week for the Cardinals . . . King tossed a scoreless inning and recorded two of his three outs by strikeout against the Cincinnati Reds . . . King threw 12 total pitches, 9 of them for strikes.

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Jared Triolo was recalled from AAA back to the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 6 . . . Triolo has appeared in two games since being recalled.

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This Thursday two former Cougars baseball players will be inducted into the University if Houston Hall of Honor . . . Michael Bourn and Rick Brewer will be a part of the induction class that includes former quarterback Case Keenum.

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Cougars Notebook – September 4, 2023

John King made three appearances in the last week for the St. Louis Cardinals . . . Two of King’s outings were scoreless, with his appearance September 2 against the Pirates being his strongest . . . King threw 1 1/3 innings against Pittsburgh on just 17 pitches, 11 of them for strikes.

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Catcher Connor Wong played in four games last week, two against the Astros and two against the Royals . . . Wong had hits in three of the of the games and one RBI on two of the games.

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Jake Scheiner carried a one game hit streak into last week before Tacoma took on Sugar Land . . . Scheiner hit in the first five games of the week before his hit streak ended at six games on Sunday . . . Scheiner had eights base hits, three home runs, and 12 RBI against the Space Cowboys.

Scheiner leads the Pacific Coast League with 30 home runs and 105 RBI . . . The 105 RBI leads all of AAA baseball.

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Zach Arnold played in three games last week for Single-A Clearwater . . . Arnold had a hit and an RBI in each of the three games.

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Jared Triolo played in six games last week for AAA Indianapolis . . . Triolo hit in four straight games last week, extending his hit streak to five games . . . Three of the hits were doubles for Triolo.

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Cougars Notebook – August 28, 2023

Connor Wong had himself a week . . . Wong hit in all five games he played in last week and thus takes a five game hitting streak into this week . . . Wong was 4-for-6 at Minute Maid Park against the Astros on August 24, including a two-run home run off of Houston catcher-turned-reliever Martin Maldonado.

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John King made two relief appearances this past week . . . In his first appearance, at Pittsburgh on August 22, King threw 1 2/3 innings striking out one and allowing one hit . . . In Philadelphia on August 27, King threw 2/3 of an inning without allowing a run . . . King has allowed just one run in eight appearances since being traded to the Cardinals on July 30.

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Robert Gasser improved to 9-1 this season with the Nashville Sounds after a six inning outing on August 25 against Gwinnett . . . Gasser threw 91 pitches with 66 of them for strikes.

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