Junior second baseman Josh Vidales led the Cougars’ offense Saturday night as he went 3-5 at the plate including a triple and three RBI. | Brittaney Penney/The Cougar
After losing game one of their Saturday doubleheader with the Columbia Lions in extra innings, the Cougars rallied for a victory to break the tie of the series.
Senior pitcher Aaron Garza started the game by allowing a double and a home run to give the Lions a 2-0 lead, but managed to close the inning with a key strikeout.
The Cougars were scoreless until the bottom of the third, when junior second baseman Josh Vidales knocked a 3 RBI-tripled to right center with bases loaded and two outs to give Houston the lead. Vidales would score Houston’s fourth run (unearned) of the night on an error from the Lions’ shortstop as freshman shortstop Connor Wong singled to first.
Both teams went back and forth as the Lions answered in the top of the fourth by scoring three runs. Houston would stay in the game by scoring a single run in the bottom of the fifth.
Houston squeezed through at the end of the game as the team scored a run in the game’s final innings, including a walk-off sac-fly to left field from junior first baseman Justin Montemayor to score Wong from third.
Garza ended his run after throwing 6.2 innings while giving up seven runs on 10 hits, four errors, three strike outs and a hit by pitch. Garza’s reliever, junior Patrick Weigel, managed to keep the Lions scoreless for the remainder of the game as he threw for 2.1 innings, striking out three batters and giving up one walk.
Houston’s offense, led by Vidales’ 3-5 effort with three RBI and a run scored, scored eight runs and 11 hits against the Lions. Junior catcher Jacob Campbell went 2-3 with a run, junior outfielder Kyle Survance recorded a 2-4 showing with a run and RBI and Wong went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI as well.
Houston meets Columbia for the final time Sunday at noon to wrap up the series as they lead the weekend matchup 2-1.
