UH was unable to stop a fourth-inning onslaught by the Aggies. | Oscar Herrera/The Cougar
It was an all-Texas contest Tuesday night, as the Houston Cougars took on the 11th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies at the Davis Diamond in College Station. Houston was looking to get their momentum back up after being swept by Oklahoma in a three-game series over the weekend.
In the end, the Aggies battered Houston 12-2 in only five innings to bring Houston’s record to 23-24 and put them on a four-game losing streak.
The first inning was mostly quiet, although Houston prevented a run from being scored at home plate. In the second inning, the Cougars had the bases loaded, but scored no runs. The Aggies then responded by scoring five runs, including another RBI single on a fielding error from Houston, and an inside-the-park home run.
The Cougars would finally get on the scoreboard in the third inning when graduate student pitcher Shelby Smith was called out a first base, allowing junior left fielder Lair Beautae to score to make it 5-1. In the fourth inning, Houston scored again when graduate student third baseman Jazmyn Rollin hit a sac fly to left field, allowing graduate student right fielder Paige Hulsey to score to make it a 5-2 ball game.
But Texas A&M would explode in response with seven runs in the fourth, thanks largely to two three-run home runs, to make it a 12-2 ballgame. The Cougars couldn’t muster up anything in the fifth inning, and the game was called over in just five innings.
Smith was awarded the loss, bringing her pitching record to 10-11. She pitched 1.1 innings, threw 40 pitches, allowing two hits, giving up five runs and got only one strikeout. Smith and Rollin both went 1-2 with an RBI.
Houston will look to get back to winnings over the weekend at home when they take on Texas Tech Red Raiders in a three-game series.
