Baseball Sports

Season over for Cougars after 20-inning marathon against Owls

WEB-Kennia-Martinez-2015 NCAA Baseball Regional 490

The Cougars played well defensively, but the three runs allowed were just enough to doom Houston in the 3-2 loss. | Kennia Martinez/The Cougar

The Cougars suffered a 20-inning loss to the Rice Owls in the NCAA regional to end their season on Sunday.

In their second game of the day, the Cougars lost to the Owls 3-2.

After tying the game at 2-2 in the eighth inning, Houston and Rice battled to a tie in the next 11 innings, before Rice was able to push a run across the plate in the 20th frame.

The Cougars couldn’t match the Owls, as Houston suffered a 1-2-3 inning, ending their post-season.

Offensively, the Cougars tallied eleven hits on the night, led by freshman left-fielder Corey Julks, who launched his fifth home run of the year – his only hit in six appearances at the plate.

Junior right-fielder Kyle Survance went two-for-nine from the plate on the night, registering the only other RBI of the night for the Cougars.

Three Houston pitchers combined to throw the 20 innings for Houston, with junior starter Kyle Dowdy going 9.1 innings.

Dowdy allowed just nine hits and two runs, only one of which was an earned run, while striking out 10 batters in his longest career appearance for Houston.

Senior reliever Jared Robinson pitched for 1.2 innings after Dowdy, allowing no hits and just three walks in his time on the mound.

Finishing the night for the Coogs was senior pitcher Aaron Garza, who went 9.0 innings of his own, registering 11 K’s, six hits, and only one run, while walking no batters.

Despite the heroic effort from the Houston pitching staff, the Owls were able to muster just a bit more on offense to capture the win.

With the loss, Houston’s season is over.

Rice and UL-Lafayette will compete Monday at 1 p.m. for a chance to take home the regional If Rice wins the first game, the two teams will battle it out again at 6 p.m. on ESPN 3.

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