Tag: Will Pendergrass

Hernandez Homers Three Times in Opener, Cougars Drop Twin Bill

Jaycob Deese offers up the first pitch in game two of Saturday’s double-header

The Mavericks of UT-Arlington took both games of a Saturday twin bill by a combined score of 20-14 over the Houston Cougars at Schroeder Park.

Before the Cougars came to bat in the first, they were already attempting to erase a 3-0 deficit . . . With one out, Luke Almendarez hit his first collegiate home run to trim the UTA lead to 3-1 . . . The Mavericks then added a grand slam in the third to increase their early lead to 7-1 . . . Carter Henry relieved starter Blake Schultz in the third.

In the Cougars half of the third, Ryan Hernandez hit a two-out three-run home run to draw the game closer at 7-4 . . . After the Mavericks added two runs in the top half of the fifth, Hernandez hit his second home run in as many at-bats, sending one 424 feet to cut into the UTA lead 9-5.

Hernandez hit his third home run of the game in the seventh, a two-run shot with Luke Almendarez on second after a one-out double to left-center . . . Almendarez (3-for-5) and Hernandez (3-for-4) were the only Cougars with multiple hits in game one, they each had three hits . . . Hernandez is the first Houston Cougar to homer three times in a single game since Connor Wong did it against Tulane in April 2017.

Carter Henry threw 5 2/3 innings in his appearance, allowing three hits and three strikeouts . . . Henry’s outing was a tremendous boost for the bullpen as he ate up a lot of innings after a short start from Blake Schultz . . . Tyler Bielamowicz recorded the first out in the top of the ninth when he went high on the left field wall to bring back what was sure to be a two-run home run, instead it was recorded as a long out.

Mavericks shortstop Josh Minjarez hit his second home run of the game with two outs in the ninth to give his team a 12-7 lead that the Mavericks would hold on to after a scoreless final two innings from the Cougars offense.

Jaycob Deese took the mound for the Cougars in game two, making his first start for Houston but his ninth appearance.

In the bottom of the first, Steven Rivas doubled to plate one run in giving Houston an early 1-0 lead. . . Will Pendergrass followed with a two-run home run to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead . . .For Pendergrass, it was his second home run in as many days and his fourth of the season as he went 2-for-3 and walked once in the second game.

UTA took a 4-3 lead in the fourth when a sacrifice fly to center scored a runner from third who had reached base on a double and then moved over to third on a groundout . . . Brad Burckel put the Cougars back in front when he hit a two-run home run off the scoreboard in right field to give the Cougars a 5-4 advantage in the fourth.

UTA tied the game at five in the seventh on a solo home run to center field as Deese’s night came to an end . . . Prayer relieved Deese after the home run and go three fast outs to end the frame . . . Prayer went 2 2/3 innings being replaced with two outs in the eighth by Layne Looney . . . Looney would add another inning of work, holding the Mavericks and keeping the Cougars within three at 8-5 . . . The Cougars mounted a two-run rally in the ninth but they fell a run short in the 8-7 Saturday finale.

The Cougars and the Mavericks close out the four-game weekend series on Sunday at Schroeder Park . . . Houston has not yet announced a starting pitcher, though with recent history it would be safe to assume right-hander Ben Sears will take the ball for Todd Whitting’s team . . . First pitch is at 1pm. –

Cougars Win Behind Gasser, 4-1

Robert Gasser tosses the opening pitch Friday night at Schroeder Park

The Houston Cougars welcomed the UT-Arlington Mavericks to Schroeder Park Friday night for a four-game weekend set with a 4-1 victory behind another outstanding performance by Cougars starter Robert Gasser.

The two teams were scoreless going into the fourth when the Mavericks plated their sole run of the evening on a single to center by first baseman Dylan Paul.

With two outs in the fifth, Will Pendergrass reached on a bouncer to deep short that he legged-out at first for a single . . . An errant attempted pick-off throw that got past the first baseman moved Pendergrass to second . . . Brad Burckel than drove a ball to the wall in right-center under the scoreboard for a game-tying triple . . . Kyle Lovelace followed with a single into center field that scored Burckel giving the Cougars a 2-1 lead.

Gasser picked-off two runners in the game, both broke for second base as Will Pendergrass fielded throws from Gasser that he relayed perfectly to Ian McMillan at second for both outs.

Will Pendergrass hit a one-out solo home run in the home half of the seventh to extend the Cougars lead to 3-1 . . . As soon as Pendergrass connected on the pitch that was low and inside, he knew it was gone . . . One out later, the Mavericks went to the bullpen for the first time of the evening . . . Pendergrass was 2-for-3 in the Friday contest, as was teammate Kyle Lovelace, the only two Houston players with multiple hits.

Gasser was still strong the later the game went, hitting 93mph on his hundredth pitch in the eighth . . . Gasser, in picking up the win, would go 7 2/3 innings allowing just one run and striking out nine on 111 pitches . . . The outing was Gasser’s longest of the season, surpassing his seven inning start against Texas . . . Derrick Cherry took the mound with two on and two out and got a strikeout to end the UTA threat.

The Cougars added an insurance run in the eighth on a fielders choice off the bat of Tyler Bielamowicz that brought home Luke Almendarez from third . . . Derrick Cherry retired the side quickly in the ninth, striking out two, including the final out . . . Cherry picked up his second save on the year with his 1 1/3 innings on the mound . . . Gasser earned the win, his third of the season.

Ryan Hernandez returned to the lineup on Friday, though in a somewhat limited role . . . Hernandez served as the designated hitter and batted in the three spot, a spot usually occupied by Steven Rivas who was moved to the five spot for the game . . . Hernandez lined a single to left-center in the eighth for his only hit of the game, and his first hit in nearly two calendar weeks.

Houston and UTA square-up again on Saturday in a double-header with the first pitch slated for 2pm . . . Right-hander Blake Schultz with start for the Cougars in game one, and no starter has been named yet for the Cougars in game two. –

Run-Rule Ends Cougars Road Trip

Steven Rivas faces Oklahoma on Sunday in Norman, OK

A disappointing road trip to Norman, Oklahoma came to a close on Sunday as the Sooners swept their three game home series with a 12-2 defeat of the Houston Cougars in a seven-inning run-rule shortened game.

Ryan Hernandez was not in the lineup at all in the weekend series with Oklahoma . . . Ryan has not appeared in a game since last Tuesday when he had a single pinch-hit appearance against Texas A&M.

After being held scoreless through two innings, the Sooners opened up the scoring with four runs in the third inning, capped by a two-run home run to left by Conor McKenna . . . Ben Sears rebounded nicely with a quick fourth inning facing only three batters, striking out one.

The Cougars put together a two-run fifth inning started on a one-out single by Brad Burckel, who moments later stole second . . . Brandon Uhse hit an infield single to third which scored Burckel from third . . . After a single by Will Pendergrass, Steven Rivas doubled deep into the left field corner, Uhse scored easily, but Will Pendergrass was thrown out at home on a nice relay from the third baseman . . . The scoring had cut the Sooner lead down to 4-2.

But the Sooners had a rebound of their own when they exploded for five runs in the fifth keyed by a Brandon Zaragoza two-run home run giving the Sooners a 9-2 lead . . . Ryne Huggins relieved Sears with two outs and ended the inning without further damage.

The Sooners added a run in the sixth on a solo home run, and one-out later Huggins would be relieved by Layne Looney . . . Looney issued two walks and was quickly relieved by Sean Bretz, who also walked two on his way out of the game . . . Maddux Miller entered the game and walked one, the fifth straight Sooner, before getting an inning-ending fly out to center, but Oklahoma had taken a 12-2 lead.

The Cougars had a chance to extend to the game in the seventh with the run-rule in effect for a Sunday game, but after putting runners on first and second courtesy of two lead off walks, a double-play and a strikeout ended the frame and the game as Oklahoma took the game 12-2 and swept the three game series.

Brad Burckel was 2-for-2 in the Sunday contest while Steven Rivas was 2-for-3, the only two Cougars with multiple hits, accounting for four of the team’s seven total hits in the defeat . . . The bottom three spots in the batting order totaled three hits and two walks in the seven inning game, this is always a good sign for the Cougars when the bottom of the order is getting on base, but the top and middle of the order is hampered with the absence of Ryan Hernandez.

The Cougars will now work their way back to Houston where they will host a double-header against Prairie View A&M on Wednesday . . . Look for right-hander Blake Schultz to get one of the starts on Wednesday . . . First pitch is at 2pm from Schroeder Park. –

Cougars Win Road Series, Improve to 10-5

Houston wins their second consecutive road series in San Marcos on Sunday

Pitching was not the name of the game this weekend in San Marcos, with the notable exception of Robert Gasser in his Friday night start, as the Houston Cougars left town with an 8-7 victory and a series win . . . Houston outscored Texas State over the weekend 29 to 25, a weekend which saw the wind blowing out on Saturday and blowing in on Sunday.

To get the game started in the first, Tyler Bielamowicz took a one out walk, then Steven Rivas singled to right on the next pitch moving Bielamowicz to third . . . Ryan Hernandez hit a liner toward shallow left-center and the Bobcats centerfielder made a sliding grab, but Tyler tagged-up and scored from third to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.

Texas State tied the game at one in their half of the inning, also on a sacrifice fly to center . . . The Bobcats extended their lead in the third when they scored on a single followed by two a two-run home run by Johnny Gonzalez to give them a 5-1 lead.

The Cougars put together a multiple-run inning of their own in the fourth when they got singles from Ryne Edmondson, Will Pendergrass and Brad Burckel . . .  A bases load walk to Kyle Lovelace scored one . . . Brandon Uhse then worked a 2-0 count and Texas State coaches had seen enough from their starter, they went to the bullpen in the middle of the at-bat . . . After the pitching change, Uhse knocked a double into the left field corner scoring two and getting the Cougars to within a run . . . Tyler Bielamowicz tied the game at five with a sacrifice fly to center field.

Neither starter made it out of the fourth inning as Houston starter Cameron Prayer exited in the fourth and was relieved by Jaycob Deese . . . Deese ended the threat after inheriting a runner on first with no outs.

Four straight Cougar batters reached base to lead off the fifth inning . . . Will Pendergrass was one of those four, hitting a single to right that gave the Cougars a 6-5 lead . . . Kyle Lovelace then grounded into a double play that scored a run to make the score 7-5 . . . Brandon Uhse then drove a double into right-center to push the Houston lead to 8-5.

Meanwhile, Jaycob Deese tossed scoreless fifth and sixth innings, but got into some trouble in the seventh before being lifted for Derrick Cherry after three innings of work . . . A run scored on a bases loaded walk, but Cherry struck out three batters to limit the damage . . . Cherry then worked a scoreless eighth.

The Bobcats clawed their way toward a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, after plating on run on a single to left . . . Derrick Cherry then got a bouncer to Brad Burckel who started the game-ending double play as the potential tying run crossed the plate . . . Jaycob Deese improves his record to 2-1 with the 8-7 win and Derrick Cherry earned his first save of 2021 with his three innings of relief pitching.

In a reversal of Saturday’s loss, the bottom five spots in the Cougars batting order saw three batters produce two hits each and it accounted for eleven runners on base and scored seven runs . . . Brandon Uhse was 2-for-4 on Sunday with 3 RBI in the lead off spot . . .Will Pendergrass, Ian McMillan and Brad Burckel each contributed two hits to the road win.

The Cougars close out this road trip with a 3-1 record and have won both road series this season and improve to 10-5 on the 2021 campaign.

The Cougars head back to Houston now and have a day off tomorrow . . . Houston returns to action on Tuesday night at 6:30pm when they host Texas A&M at Schroeder Park. –

Cougars Open Road Trip with 13-7 Win

The Houston Cougars opened a four game road trip in San Antonio against University of the Incarnate Word on Wednesday night with a 13-7 victory . . . After scoring only four runs in the entire weekend series against Texas, the Cougars scored five runs in the first inning, and they would score five runs in two different innings on Wednesday.

Ryan Hernandez hit a one-out home run to center field to give the Cougars a quick 3-0 lead . . . For Hernandez it was his first home run since he hit two on opening day . . . Ian McMillan a few batters later hit an RBI single to increase the Cougar lead 4-0 . . . Catcher Dylan Post followed with a sacrifice fly to left that gave the Cougars a 5-0 lead and the Cougars eventually batted around in the first.

The Cardinals went to the bullpen to start the second and they kept the Cougars off the scoreboard until the sixth inning, as their offense clawed them back into the game . . . UIW scored three in the third off Houston starter Blake Schultz, but Houston held on to a 5-3 lead.

Blake Schultz took the game into the fifth inning, but he was relieved by Ryne Huggins after 4 2/3 innings and six strikeouts . . . The Cardinals tied the game at five in the bottom half of the fifth . . . Jaycob Deese relieved Huggins and got a strikeout to end the fifth and stop the bleeding at that point . . . Despite a no-decision, it was a solid outing for Schultz, the first-year Cougar.

In the top half of the sixth, Tyler Bielamowicz hit a two-out single to center, his third hit of the game at that point, Steven Rivas then hit a pop-up toward second that seemed like it was going to end the inning, but the catch was not made and Bielamowicz, who was moving the entire time, scored from first on the error as the Cougars took a 6-5 lead.

After ending the fifth, Deese followed with a scoreless sixth . . . UIW then tied the game again in the seventh inning.

With the game again tied in the top of the eighth, and with one out, the top of the Cougars order went to work . . . Bielamowicz collected his fourth hit in a 4-for-6 effort, Rivas singled and plated a run, Hernandez singled to score another, his fourth RBI on the night as he also went 3-for-4 . . . Will Pendergrass then doubled and picked up a RBI as Rivas scored . . . Ian McMillan singled and increased the lead to 11-6 heading to the bottom of the eighth.

Derrick Cherry took the mound looking to protect the lead, he struck out the three batters he faced in the eighth . . . After the Cougars added two more runs in the top of the ninth to build a 13-6 lead, Cherry returned to the mound for the ninth . . . UIW added a run in the ninth on a turf-bouncer that just got over the reach of Brad Burckel at second, but Cherry closed it out a few pitches later with his fifth strikeout in two innings pitched.

The Cougars moved to 8-4 on the season with the 13-7 win, and Jaycob Deese (1-1-1) picked up his first win of the season and as a Cougar.

The Cougars now move the road trip to San Marcos where they will be hosted by the Texas State Bobcats for a three game series this weekend . . . Robert Gasser will take the ball for Houston making his fourth start of the season . . . First pitch is at 6:30pm on Friday. –

Cougars Walk-Off Winners in 11 Over UT

Ben Sears throws the first pitch of Saturday’s game at Schroeder Park

The Houston Cougars took the field on Saturday afternoon having not scored a run since last Sunday in Corpus Christi . . . While runs were hard to come by on Saturday, the Cougars got one more than the Texas Longhorns did in an eleven inning thriller at Schroeder Park.

Kyle Lovelace drove in the first run of the game in the bottom of the second when he hit a two-out single to center to score Samuel Benjamin to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead . . . Lovelace was 1-for-5 on the afternoon but was again a vacuum behind the plate and caught the only Longhorn that attempted to steal a base.

Ben Sears worked 5 1/3 innings as he got the start for the third time this season . . . Sears only allowed two runs and struck out six and left the game as a would-be losing pitcher if things remained as they were . . . It worked out differently.

Ryne Huggins entered the game, after Layne Looney faced a batter, to get the final out of the sixth, but the Longhorns had taken a 2-0 lead at that point.

Samuel Benjamin had two hits in this game, a single in the second, and a two-out double to left-center in the sixth which led to Texas going to their bullpen for the first time of the weekend . . . Will Pendergrass welcomed the new pitcher by lining a triple to the wall in right-center scoring Benjamin and tying the game . . . Head Coach Todd Whitting mentioned earlier in the week that Benjamin and Pendergrass were the future of the program, comparing them to Rivas and Hernandez, the duo looked the part on Saturday afternoon.

Steven Rivas returned to the line-up after only appearing once in a one at-bat pinch-hitting role in Friday nights 1-0 defeat . . . Rivas was 1-for-5 with a single to right field in the seventh that looked to be part of a potential rally, but was foiled soon after . . . The Cougars again threatened when they loaded the bases in the eighth but that rally ended with a strikeout.

Jaycob Deese pitched three scoreless innings in relief to move the game along and he was dominating . . . Deese was consistently throwing 92 plus and ended his first inning of work on a 97mph fastball . . . Overall Deese struck out five and allowed both a hit and a walk and saw his ERA drop to 2.03 . . . Blake Schultz took the mound in the tenth and eleventh and blanked Texas in both . . . Discussing the bullpen’s effort on Saturday, Head Coach Todd Whitting said, “For those guys to come in and throw strikes like they did, it was huge for us to give us a chance to win that game.”

With one out in the eleventh, Tyler Bielamowicz hit an 0-1 pitch over the left-field fence off of Texas pitcher Aaron Nixon to send the Cougars home with a 3-2 victory . . . Bielamowicz was 1-for-4 with two walks on Saturday, but the one was a big one . . . After the celebration at home plate, Tyler was quick to heap praise on his teammates for the win, “Ben Sears pitched a hell of a game today. The guys coming out of the pen pitched a hell of a game.” “Benjamin and Pendergrass had some good late hits to get the rally going.”

Blake Schultz picked up the win to improve to 2-0 with his two innings of late relief work . . . Schultz has been the Sunday starter to begin the season, but having pitched on Saturday now, there is a change afoot for Sunday’s game, no decision on who will start Sunday has been announced yet.

Coach Whitting said after the game about the series with Texas, “That’s a resume builder is what that is. And tomorrow we have to get right back to it and keep building that resume.” “This is resume-building time of year and that’s why they’re on the schedule.”

The Longhorns and Cougars return to action on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 for the rubber match at Schroeder Park, both teams have scored just three runs each in the first two games . . . Asked how his team can win on Sunday, Tyler Bielamowicz said, “Energy. Sunday is all about energy.” –

Cougars Dominate the Islanders 14-1

Nothing about the Houston Cougars 3-2 loss to the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders on Friday night indicated that twenty-fours hours later would see a monster offensive performance in which the offense set a new school record for home runs in a game . . . A record previously set at seven in May of 1999 . . . But that is what happened at Whataburger Field on Saturday night as the Cougars scored a run in six of the nine innings.

Brad Burckel got the Cougars offense started on Saturday night when he hit the second pitch of the game out of the ballpark for a lead off home run . . . After a single by Brandon Uhse, Steven Rivas hit a two-run home run to center to give the Cougars a quick 3-0 lead.

Freshman Will Pendergrass hit his first collegiate home run in the second to lead off the inning . . . Batting again in the second, with Brandon Uhse on second base after reaching on a double, Steven Rivas delivered another two-run home run to give the Cougars a 6-0 lead.

Freshman Samuel Benjamin also hit his first collegiate home run, this one coming in the third inning . . . Tyler Bielamowicz kept the scoring going in the fourth with a two-run homerun to increase the Cougars lead to 9-0.

Will Pendergrass hit his second home run of the night, this time a two-run shot in the fifth to make the score 11-0 . . .  Later in the inning, Brandon Uhse hit a home run to give the Cougars a 13-0 lead . . . Adam Becker capped the Cougars scoring with a single in the seventh that plated Brandon Uhse and put the Cougars on top 14-0.

The eight home runs for the Cougars set a school record for a single game . . . Five of the home runs were hit with a runner on base . . . Brandon Uhse was 3-for-4 and was on base in each of his first five plate appearances . . . In addition to his two home runs, Will Pendergrass reached base two other times, hit by a pitch one time and walked another time, good production from the eight spot in the lineup . . . Samuel Benjamin was 2-for-4 with a single in addition to the solo home run.

For as good as the offense was on Saturday night, Ben Sears was that dominant on the other side . . . Staked to a big lead that continued to grow as the game went on, Sears scattered four hits over seven innings and did not walk a batter, only departing in the eighth inning after two singles started the inning for the Islanders . . . Sears gave way to Andrew Belcik, eventually one of the runners allowed on base by Sears would score on a sacrifice fly to left field accounting for the sole Islanders run in the game.

Maddux Miller started the ninth in relief, but he gave way to Derrick Cherry who recorded the final out on a fly ball to left and secured the 14-1 victory for the Cougars . . . The Cougars improved to 5-1 on the season with the win.

These two teams close out the weekend series with a rubber game on Sunday afternoon at 1pm at Whataburger Field . . . .Blake Schultz with his record of 1-0 will take the mound for the Cougars.

“Officially a Coog!” Signing Day 2019

Cougars Beat National Signing Day

Nine high school baseball players made their commitment to Cougars Baseball official on Wednesday as part of official events for national signing day . . . Future Coogs Rome Shubert, Patrick Dunn, Brandon Uhse, Evan Maldonado, Ben Sears, Will Pendergrass, Samuel Tormos, Josh Brown, and Bo Hogeboom all put pen to paper to declare themselves “officially a Coog!”

HS Watch: Future Cougars Faceoff in 6A Playoff

Ridge Point vs. Kingwood Texas 6A baseball playoffs

Future Houston Cougars faced each other on Thursday night on a field that they will share soon enough when they’re wearing the scarlet and white . . . Houston’s Schroeder Park is playing host to the 6A baseball playoff series between Kingwood and Ridge Point this week.

Tre Richardson of Kingwood and Will Pendergrass of Ridge Point met with a fist-bump at home plate when Richardson led off the bottom of the first inning for Kingwood.

Tre Richardson had a rough night at the plate, aside from being hit by a pitch in the sixth, he had a great plate appearance in the second when he hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly that carried to the warning track in right field . . . The drive was deep enough that all three runners tagged and advanced . . . In the field, Richardson was as smooth as ever, making several great fielding plays to get runners at first.

Will Pendergrass hit a two-out triple to right-center in the third inning to plate a runner from second and tie the game at one . . . Until the fifth inning, the Pendergrass RBI was the only Ridge Point run on the board.

The game went to extra innings and Ridge Point would get a run across the plate and then hold Kingwood scoreless in the bottom of the eighth to end the game and secure a 6-5 victory and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

The two teams return to action Friday night at 7pm at the University of Houston, Ridge Point can advance to Austin next week with a win, Kingwood can force a third and deciding game on Saturday. –

BOX SCORE
. . . . . . . . . . . .  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   –   R   H   E
Ridge Point    0   0   1   0   4   0   0   1        6    10   0 

Kingwood       0   1   1   3   0   0   0   0        5   10   0