Senior pitcher Lael Lockhart Jr. earned his first win of the season with Houston’s 11-4 victory over Standford on Friday at the Round Rock Classic. | Deaunte Johnson/The Cougar
Behind a big fourth inning, the Cougars bounced back from their opening weekend losses to the Youngstown State Penguins to take down the Stanford Cardinal 11-4 on Friday at the Round Rock Classic.
Houston moved back up to .500 with the win, improving to 2-2 on the young season.
Stanford struck first on an RBI double from catcher Christian Molfetta in the first inning to give the Cardinal a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars tied the game up in the bottom of the second on senior left fielder Blake Way’s sacrifice fly to score senior Tyler Bielamowicz.
Houston blew the game open in the fourth inning, sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring 7 runs. With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Way singled to left scoring Bielamowicz and junior right fielder Steven Rivas.
After scoring their third run of the inning via a throwing error, sophomore second baseman Brad Burckel singled to score junior catcher Kyle Lovelace.
Houston’s next batter, senior shortstop Kobe Hyland, singled to left field to score Burckel.
Rivas capped off the Cougars seven-run inning with a two-run single to score Hyland and junior first baseman Ryan Hernandez and extending Houston’s lead to 8-1.
Stanford threatened to start a rally in the sixth inning by loading the bases with no outs, but Houston brought in senior pitcher Brayson Hurdsman, who retired the next three batters, including two via strikeout, to strand the bases loaded and help the Cougars escape the inning without any damage.
Stanford tacked on three runs in the seventh inning to make it an 8-4 ballgame, but that’s as close as they got.
The Cougars put the nail in the coffin in the eighth inning when Hernandez hit a three run homer to extend the lead to 11-4.
The Cougars shut down the Cardinal in the ninth to complete their 11-4 victory to open up the Round Rock Classic.
Senior Lael Lockhart Jr. earned the win while Brendan Beck took the loss for the Cardinal.
