Baseball

Lamar walks off with win over UH

M.P. Cokinos went 1-for-4 with an RBI against Lamar on Wednesday, but it was the Cardinals who had the last word, walking off with a win thanks to a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth. | Newton Liu/The Daily Cougar

The Cougars’ midweek game against Lamar featured many swings, but ultimately came down to just one timely swing. Chase Dempsay has been Houston’s best pitcher this year with a 1.75 ERA, and he was trying to close out a slim one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth when the big blow came.

The Cougars had scored two runs in the sixth inning to tie the game at five, and one in the eighth to take a slim lead.

The erratic bullpen had also done its part and didn’t give up a run for four innings. However, all that was wiped out when, with a runner on third and two outs, Lamar’s Kevin Roebuck hit a walk-off two-run homer over the left field fence for a 7-6 Lamar win. With the win, the Cardinals improved to 24-15 on the season while the Cougars dropped to 16-19.

Head coach Rayner Noble said it’s difficult to lose the game in that matter.

“You’re trying to get one out, and they get a win with one swing of the bat, that’s probably the hardest way you can lose a game,” Noble said.

Noble said Dempsay left a pitch up at the wrong time, and Roebuck took advantage of it.

“You just try to make quality pitches, you know, and Chase had been doing a pretty good job of it, and he had just kind of got his pitch a little bit up, and the guy hit it,” Noble said.

Barry Laird was making his first start of the season for UH and allowed eight base runners on four hits and four walks through his four innings and was fortunate to surrender only five runs.

The Cardinals had a 3-0 lead after three innings, but the Cougars responded in the top of the fourth when they scored three runs, including an RBI double by M.P. Cokinos and an RBI single by Caleb Ramsey.

Laird, though, couldn’t post the critical shutdown inning in the bottom of the fourth when the Cardinals scored two more runs, including an RBI triple by Aaron Buchanan.

The trio of Tanner Shiflett, Codey Morehouse and Dempsay didn’t allow a run in the eighth and gave the Cougars an opportunity to win.

The Cougars will have a three-game series against Southern Miss beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Hattiesburg, Miss.

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