Junior second baseman Ryan Hernandez tripled and hit a home run in Houston 5-1 bounce-back win over Texas State on Saturday at Schroeder Park. | Jhair Romero/The Cougar
Thanks to junior first baseman Ryan Hernandez’s two-hit, three-RBI outing, Houston bounced back to avenge their series-opening loss to Texas State with a 5-1 victory over the Bobcats on Saturday night at Schroeder Park.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 3-6 and snapped a four-game losing streak.
Hernandez got the Cougars on the board when he tripled down the right field line to drive in sophomore designated hitter Derrick Cherry.
Hernandez added to Houston’s lead in the third inning when he homered to left field on a 1-1 fastball. Sophomore third baseman Ian McMillan hit the Cougars second home run of the inning to extend Houston’s lead to 4-0.
Houston’s pitching staff combined to strike out 11 Bobcat batters. Junior starting pitcher Clay Aguilar accounted for five strikeouts while senior pitcher Carter Henry recorded five strikeouts in relief.
Texas State’s sole run of the evening came via a solo home run in the fifth inning to cut the Cougars lead to 4-1.
Houston got their lead back up to four runs in the sixth inning on junior catcher Kyle Lovelace’s RBI single that scored freshman second baseman Luke Almendarez.
In the seventh inning, the Bobcats loaded the bases with no outs, but Houston pitching worked its way out of the situation without giving up any runs.
Henry retired six batters in a row over the final two innings to secure Houston’s 5-1 win.
Aguilar earned the win for Houston while Trevis Sundgren was charged with the loss for Texas State.
