Cougars stun Tigers with comeback win

The Cougars improved their record to 4-0 and remained undefeated at home as they took down the TSU Tigers with an 11-5 comeback win Wednesday night, marking the second time this season the Cougars rallied after a first inning deficit.

The night didn’t start in Houston’s favor as they trailed behind 4-0 at the top of the first. Starting junior pitcher Patrick Weigel lasted one out on the mound after allowing four runs one hit, three walks and a hit by pitch. With Weigel’s performance not improving, he was relieved by junior pitcher Austin Moore to finish the inning.

“I’m not worried about his pressure level because he is going to see a lot of more pressure than that,” said Coach Whitting on whether the pressure got to Weigel. “He is going to have to learn to deal with that stuff. Luckily, he got inexpensive experience tonight about going out there, getting it on the gym, not throwing very well at all and we ended up winning the game, so he’ll learn from that.”

Junior outfielder Ashford Fulmer said he also expects better things from Weigel this season, as he has seen more efficient performances from the junior.

“It’s his first start and I have seen him pitch way better than that, that’s not Patrick Weigel,” said Fulmer on Weigel’s outing. “I’m sure he’ll come out next start dominant.”

Second baseman Josh Vidales reached first on a single to center and advanced to second after a wild pitch in the bottom of the first. Junior designated hitter Chris Iriart singled to left field for an RBI, scoring Vidales and giving the Cougars their first run of the night against the Tigers.

At the bottom of the fourth, Houston started to pick up the pace as junior first baseman Justin Montemayor singled to right. Montemayor moved to second with a fielder’s choice out on freshman shortstop Connor Wong and scored after a triple from junior outfielder Kyle Survance, ending the inning trailing by one point.

The fifth and sixth innings sealed the game for the Cougars as they totaled seven runs including a home run from freshman outfielder Zac Taylor, the team’s fifth of the year and the first of his career.

Senior pitcher Taylor Cobb closed out the game with four scoreless innings, striking out five batters and allowing one hit, earning his first save of the season.

Despite the rough start and the slow pick up of the team, Whitting was complimentary of the Cougars’ comeback performance.

“Taylor Cobb was awesome once we put him in the game,” said Whitting. “Throughout the game, once we got past that hiccup, I thought we pitched the ball pretty good.”

Meanwhile, there are some players like Survance who believe that the team still have some kinks that the team needs to fix.

“We’ve kind of gotten to the point we are getting a little too comfortable during practices and we are going to work on that tomorrow for the Alabama series,” said Survance. “We have to keep getting better throughout the season and we can’t just roll out and start playing.”

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