Cougars Notebook – August 7, 2023

Former Cougars lefty Robert Gasser improved to 6-1 on Friday night for the AAA Nashville Sounds . . .  Gasser tossed six scoreless frames allowing just two hits while striking out ten batters.

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Left-hander John King made his first appearance in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform on August 1 after the Rangers traded King as part of a five player deal just days before . . . King tossed a scoreless inning and gave up one hit against the Minnesota Twins in a 3-2 Cardinals loss.

King also pitched a scoreless inning against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday in a 1-0 Cardinals loss at home.

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Austin Pruitt pitched two scoreless innings for the Athletics against the Dodgers on August 2 in Los Angeles . . . Pruitt did not allow a hit but struck out two Dodgers hitters on a night the National League West leaders scored ten runs against the rest of the Oakland pitching staff.

On August 5, Pruitt tossed a scoreless inning against the San Francisco Giants in a 2-1 Oakland victory.

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Jared Triolo has seen his playing time with the Pittsburgh Pirates somewhat reduced with the return of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the injured list . . . Triolo started at second base for the Pirates in Sunday’s finale in Milwaukee against the Brewers, a contest that the Pirates won 4-1.

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Former Cougars RHP Ben Sears is 3-1 with eight saves in 27 appearances for the Columbus Fireflies, the Single-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals . . . Sears also has a 2.75 ERA.

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After just four games in the Florida Complex League (FCL) recently drafted Zach Arnold was promoted to the Single-A Clearwater Threshers by the Phillies . . . In eleven at-bats Arnold had two doubles and a triple and five RBI.

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The first year in the Big 12 for Houston was going to be an odd one anyway because after the first year, the conference is losing Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC . . . Well, the second year got more interesting with the Friday news that Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah would be joining the Big 12 beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.

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Cougars Notebook – July 31, 2023

Former Cougars catcher Connor Wong has had hit streaks of three games and five games in the second half of July . . . Between July 15 and July 28 hit safely in eight of nine games with multiple hits in three of those games.

Wong has caught 626 1/3 innings this season and has a .988 fielding percentage with the Boston Red Sox.

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Former Cougars LHP John King was part of a five player trade on Sunday ahead of the MLB trade deadline . . . King, drafted by the Texas Rangers in 2017, was sent to the St. Louis Cardinals with two other Rangers prospects in exchange for two players.

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Jake Scheiner is tied with three other players for the AAA home run lead with 25 . . . Scheiner leads AAA in RBI with 85 RBI, six more than the next closest hitter.

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Former Cougars slugger Ryan Hernandez was released from his contract with the Los Angeles Angels organization on July 26 . . . Hernandez was quickly picked up by the Cleburne Railroaders, an independent league team where he opened the season before the Angels signed him to a free agent contract.

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On July 27 Malachi Lott who had entered the transfer portal early, announced he is transferring to Sam Houston.

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Cougars Notebook – July 24, 2023

Jared Triolo pushed his hit streak to 13 games, a streak which began before the All-Star break . . . On July 21, Triolo picked up his base hit with a 4th inning single to right field off of Shohei Ohtani in Anaheim.

The hit streak ended at 13 games on Saturday night.

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Connor Wong was 3-for-4 with three RBI for Boston on Monday night at Oakland in a Red Sox 7-0 victory . . . At that point Wong had hit safely in three straight games.

Wong closed out the week with another 3-for-4 performance, this time against the New York Mets in a 6-1 win at Fenway Park.

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Jake Scheiner hit his 24th home run of the season for Tacoma on Tuesday night . . . Scheiner led all of AAA in home runs at that point and closed the week tied for lead.

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Cougars Notebook – July 17, 2023

Jared Triolo begins the week having hit in nine straight games, a streak which began before the All-Star break.

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Jaxon Jelkin, a Cougars commit who was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, announced on Monday that he would be attending the University of Houston in 2024 and he thanked the Dodgers for giving him the opportunity of being drafted . . . Jelkin, a pitcher, is a portal transfer with previous college experience, it would not be a stretch to see him be “one and done” if he has a solid season with the Cougars and improves his draft stock.

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The Cougars had two commits taken in the draft, Jelkin who opted to come to Houston, and Nehomar Ochoa from Galena Park who signed a contract with the Houston Astros and will not be a Houston Cougar.

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Brandon Burckel announced his new landing spot on July 14, he is headed to Indiana.

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2023 MLB Draft Recap

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.

Cougars Notebook – July 10, 2023

Former Cougar and current Houston Astros outfielder Corey Julks got hot on July 4 and went on a nice run over three games . . . Julks went 4-for-5 and 2-for-3 against the Colorado Rockies and continued to swing a hot bat by going 3-for-3 against the Seattle Mariners . . . The offensive output by Julks was part of a string in which he had a base hit in 8 of his previous 10 games.

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Former Cougars left-hander John King was brought up to the Texas Rangers for a few days while Andrew Heaney was on paternity leave . . . King appeared in two games, both against the Boston Red Sox and former teammate Connor Wong . . . King did not allow a run in either of his two outings, his longest outing was two innings on July 5 in which he allowed just one hit . . . King threw 18 pitches, 14 of them strikes and got four ground ball outs and there were no outs recorded on fly balls . . . King threw 1/3 of an inning on July 6 in a Rangers loss.

King has returned to AAA Round Rock for the time being.

Cougars Notebook – July 3, 2023

As the clock changed from 11:59pm to 12:00am late on Friday, June 30 to early on Saturday, July 1, the University of Houston became a member of the Big 12.

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Former Cougars third baseman Jared Triolo was promoted to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night . . . On Wednesday night, June 28, Triolo made his MLB debut at third base against the San Diego Padres . . . Triolo picked up his first base hit in the eighth inning as part of a 1-for-3 effort, including a hit-by-pitch to reach base as part of a five-run seventh inning.

Triolo then picked up his first RBI in the big leagues on Saturday, July 1 when he doubled off the wall in right field in PNC Park against the Milwaukee Brewers.

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Last week it was announced that the Cougars would participate in the 2024 Astros Foundation College Classic, which was formerly called the Shriners College Classic . . . The Astros Classic will take place at Minute Maid Park March 1-3, 2024 . . . The Cougars will play Texas, Vanderbilt, and Louisiana  . . . Texas, LSU will also be in town for the Classic, but they will not face Houston.

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Jake Scheiner hit his 20th home run of the season on Friday night for AAA Tacoma . . . Scheiner also had 76 total hits, 66 RBI, and 47 walks to close out June.

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Former Cougars RHP Fred Villarreal was released by the Seattle Mariners organization on June 28 . . . On June 30, Villarreal signed with the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican Baseball League.

Cougars Notebook – May 29, 2023

Houston’s 2023 season came to an end Saturday night in Clearwater as they bowed out of the conference Championship having gone 3-2.

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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.

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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.

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Pitching Coach Kyle Bunn will not be returning to Houston next season

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Jake Scheiner hit his 15th home run of the season for AAA Tacoma on May 27.

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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.

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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.

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Cougars Notebook – May 15, 2023

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.

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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.

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Connor Wong hit his fourth home run of the season on May 12 in a game against the Cardinals.

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Early Lead Propels Houston to 9-3 Win at Tulane

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.