Tag: Clay Aguilar

Cougars Win at Lamar; Davis Homers Again

The Houston Cougars celebrate victory at Lamar University in Beaumont on Tuesday.
The Houston Cougars celebrate victory at Lamar on Tuesday.

Stop me if you have heard this before . . . The Cougars rally late, on a Joe Davis homerun, to win, and Fred Villarreal earns a save.

That is what took place in Beaumont on Tuesday evening as the Houston Cougars visited the Lamar Cardinals, with some other drama along the way.

Clay Aguilar was on the mound for the Cougars and he looked sharp early and his breaking pitches really had nice movement . . . But Aguilar started to lose command of his pitches in the second and the pitch count rose as well . . . Aguilar would leave the game in the third, charged with four runs, but two were unearned as some bizarre baseball took place behind him in the second and third, including the Cougars committing the first two of what ended up being four errors on the night.

Some small ball would help get the Cougars get on the scoreboard in the third as a single by Brad Burckel and a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Lovelace put a runner in scoring position for a double by Jared Triolo, Triolo’s only hit of the night . . . Burckel singled in his first two at-bats, and scored both times.

Rey Fuentes, 3-for-5 in the game, hit an opposite field homerun to lead off the fourth inning . . . The fourth inning also included a single, a wild pitch, a batter bit by a pitch, a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt, another single, another wild pitch, and a partridge in a pear tree . . . When the dust settled the Cougars had scored four in the frame and were leading 5-4.

Lamar scored three in their half of the fifth to take a 7-5 lead . . . This lead held until the top of the eighth when Tyler Bielamowicz, who was on second after a leadoff double to left, was singled home by Lael Lockhart Jr., part of a 2-for-2 night for Lael as he hit the ball hard both times . . . Catcher Blake Way who had entered the game in the sixth replaceing Kyle Lovelace hit a double to center to score Lockhart from second, tying the game at eight.

Devon Roedahl had entered the game in the seventh, relieving Brayson Hurdsman, and he was outstanding . . . Roedahl ended the seventh completely freezing Lamar’s Cole Girouard on a called third strike to end the inning . . . Devon returned to the mound in the eighth and sent Lamar batters down in order to set up the ninth inning.

Joe Davis led off the ninth inning . . . Davis was sitting 1-0 when he unloaded on the second pitch he saw from Lamar’s Ryan Erickson . . . The homerun shot was a no-doubter, the left-fielder barely moved as he watched the ball sail over his head and over the left field wall . . . The Cougars would be retired in order after the Davis homerun.

Fred Villarreal came in to close the door with a 8-7 lead, and he did so on nine pitches as he retired all three batters he faced . . . For Villarreal it was his sixth save on the year.

The Cougars have little time to rest, they return to action tomorrow night back home at Schroeder Park where they will host Florida International University (FIU) . . . First pitch against FIU is at 6:30pm. –

 

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Clay Aguilar Leads Cougars Past Bearkats

Clay Aguilar and the Houston Cougars face Sam Houston State Bearkats Tuesday night. Photo by Cougars Beat.
Clay Aguilar and the Cougars face Sam Houston St. Tuesday night.
Photo by Cougars Beat.

The Houston Cougars and the Sam Houston State Bearkats played a fast game on Tuesday night at Schroeder Park, the result of only three runs and nine hits combined . . . The Bearkats entered the game with a record of 15-6 and a team batting average of .303 . . . Clay Aguilar was not interested in any of that, however . . . The Bearkats were not going to ruin Clay’s birthday.

Jonathan Thomas got the scoring started in the second with an RBI single to bring home Derrick Cherry who had powered his way on base with a leadoff double to right-center.

Clay Aguilar was effective all night, he had the Bearkats batters completely off balance and they were not able to put much together . . . Clay’s pitching game was so complete he even picked-off a runner at first in the fourth.

Jared Triolo drove in the Cougars second and final run of the evening with a hard hit ball past the Bearkats third baseman driving in Brad Burckel for an RBI in fifth to give Aguilar a 2-0 lead . . . Aguilar would yield his one and only run in sixth when the Bearkats took advantage of a leadoff hit-by-pitch, then they moved the runner around until he scored on a single by right-fielder Jordan Cannon.

Fred Villarreal entered the game in the eighth inning, and as has been the case more often than not, he shut the door . . . The Bearkats would get one hit in the final two innings as Villarreal was mixing speeds well and his fastball was clocking 91 . . . Fred lowered his ERA to .091 (to match his fastball?) as he earned his fourth save on the season . . . Aguilar picked up his second win of the year and got his own ERA down to 2.86.

The 2-1 win for the Cougars marked the 300th win in the career of head coach Todd Whitting.

The Cougars hit the road tomorrow for a game in Nacogdoches against Stephen F. Austin at 2pm before heading to Memphis for a three game weekend series. –

 

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Cougars Shutout in 1-0 Road Finale

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The Houston Cougars and McNeese State Cowboys locked up in a a classic ballgame Tuesday in Lake Charles, Louisiana . . . If you stopped watching the game after the first inning, you would not believe the final score.

Clay Aguilar got the Tuesday start and he was shaky out of the box . . . The first batter walked, the next one singled, the next was hit by a pitch to load the bases before an out was recorded . . . The damage would be limited though, to just one run . . . It would be the only run of the entire game for either team.

Aguilar was very good after that shaky first and did not deserve the loss for that performance, turning in four solid innings of work . . . Right-hander Sean Bretz came into the game in the fifth and pitched four scoreless innings, a great performance in his own right . . . Bretz did not give up a hit and walked two batters, but his outing was a welcome sight.

The Cowboys offense is no slouch either. Just last month when McNeese visited Schroeder Park they put up 13 runs, granted it took fourteen innings, but offense is offense, and they were limited to a single run on Tuesday night.

A somewhat scary and bizarre incident took place in the fourth inning when Cowboys first baseman Jacob Stracner singled to right field . . . Cowboys right fielder Jake Dickerson tried to score from second on the hit, but Lael Lockhart Jr. got a throw to Coogs catcher Kyle Lovelace in plenty of time . . . Dickerson rolled into Lovelace violently and awkwardly enough that home plate umpire Ron Teague wasted no time tossing Dickerson from the game . . . Lovelace remained down for a moment, but he was able to get off the field and he caught the rest of the game.

The Cougars offense could not muster much of anything in the game, Grayson Padgett accounted for the teams two hits on the night, a double in the first to leadoff the game and a single in the fifth . . . The Coogs would threaten, loading the bases themselves in the first, but they came away with nothing . . . The Cougars would also leave six runners on base for the game, a glaring stat when a team loses 1-0.

So, the Cougars head back home now and await the Connecticut Huskies who will be in town for the first conference series of the season . . . First pitch is at 6:30pm Friday night at Schroeder Park.

 

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Cougars Down UTSA 4-2 Behind Davis, Bullpen

The Cougars hosted UTSA Tuesday at Schroeder Park. Photo courtesy of @5_Coogs via Twitter
The Cougars hosted UTSA Tuesday at Schroeder Park.
Photo courtesy of @5_Coogs via Twitter

The Houston Cougars went to the bullpen in the second inning on Tuesday night as they hosted the UTSA Roadrunners at Schroeder Park . . . There would be a total of fifteen pitchers used between the two teams in the midweek match-up . . . Knowing that fact might make it hard to believe that the final score was 4-2.

The last time Joe Davis had to swing the bat, he put the Cougars in the win column as his opposite field homerun against Army ended that series on Sunday . . . The first time Davis would swing the bat on Tuesday evening he would give the Coogs a lead they would not relinquish . . . Davis would see four pitches before he sent the fifth pitch over the left field wall for a two-out first inning homerun off of UTSA starter Cameron Carver.

The Cougars would use eight of the fifteen pitchers called on in the game, and the team allowed only two runs on two hits . . . The Roadrunners would score one run in the second without actually getting a hit. UTSA got a walked batter before the Cougars committed two errors allowing the run to score . . . UTSA’s next and final run of the night came in the fifth when they got their first hit of the game, a homerun by catcher Nick Thornquist.

Jared Pettitte saw his first action on the mound as a Cougar and his inning of work was extremely efficient as he only faced ten batters and threw ten pitches.

Shortstop Kobe Hyland had a nice game for the Cougars hitting in the seventh spot. He had two singles, including one with two outs in the sixth that would bring home Joe Davis from second for the Cougars fourth and final run of the game. 

Clay Aguilar was superb out of the bullpen, going three strong, scoreless innings, and facing the minimum number of batters . . . Aguilar threw 26 pitches overall and got five ground ball outs and four strikeouts . . . It was a welcome sight after his short Sunday outing.

Fred Villarreal would come in finish off the Roadrunners in the ninth, earning his second save on the season and getting his ERA down to 0.98.

The Cougars hit the road now, for their first real road trip of the season. They will be back in action on Friday in Dallas against Dallas Baptist University, first pitch is at 6:30pm. –

 

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Cougars Fall in 14, Now 2-2 on the Season

@UHCougarBB 2-20-2019
Joe Davis lifts a homerun to center as the Cougars dugout looks on.
Photo courtesy of @UHCougarBB

The Houston Cougars welcomed the McNeese State Cowboys to Schroeder Park on a cool yet perfect Wednesday evening . . . The game would go fourteen innings, but the number that best explains this mid-week affair is ten: McNeese would score ten runs in the fourteenth inning, and the Cougars would use ten pitchers in the game.

Clay Aguilar got the Wednesday night start on the mound for the Cougars . . . Aguilar would labor a bit with 21 pitches in the opening frame while striking out the side without yielding any runs . . . Aguilar would exit after three innings having struck out six while throwing 48 total pitches.

The Coogs were first on the scoreboard in the third on a single to left that was slightly misplayed, however the runner on second was likely to have scored anyway on the base hit . . . The game was still close at 1-0 when Joe Davis crushed a two-run homerun to center field to give the Coogs a little breathing room.

The sixth inning was problematic for the Cougars . . . McNeese would be the recipient of fours walks, and they would score a run without getting a hit in the inning . . . Tristen Bayless was called out of the bullpen to put an end to the threat, he would get the final out of the inning on a called third strike.

McNeese would tie the game at three in the top of the ninth and a scoreless bottom half of the inning would send the game to extras . . . The bullpen was holding up quite well, minimizing threats and pushing the game five extra innings, that is when the fourteenth inning happened.

The Cowboys would break through in the 14th when they would put together a run scoring inning which began with a single up the middle off of Houston reliever Nolan Bond to plate the go ahead run . . . The inning unraveled further after a new reliever, Sean Bretz, would balk to force in a run, then a suicide squeeze scored another run, and finally another base hit would plate two more . . . Tanner Green would come in from the bullpen and promptly allow a two-run base hit and then a bases loaded walk followed by another two-run base hit . . . By the time all was said and done, McNeese would score ten runs in their half of the fourteenth.

The Coogs were not done yet, as Joe Davis would again hit a drive to center, this time for a double that would drive home two runs . . . And that was that . . . The 13-5 final score indicates a more lopsided game than the five hour affair actually was.

The Cougars now have an off day, a good thing after playing fourteen innings, before playing host to the Arizona Wildcats for a three game series starting Friday at 6:30pm, gates open at 4:30pm . . .  Also, if you want to attend Saturday’s ballgame, be sure to note a later than usual Saturday start time of 7:30pm. –

 

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