Entering the weekend series against Southern Miss, Houston remained in contention for the Conference USA regular-season title and a berth in an NCAA regional.
After being swept by the Golden Eagles in three games, however, chances of the Cougars winning the C-USA regular-season title are almost nonexistent.
The Cougars blew a late two-run lead in Sunday’s series finale, en route to losing 7-6 at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss. The defeat gave Southern Miss (31-13, 9-6 C-USA) a three-game series sweep of the Cougars for the second consecutive season.
The sweep leaves the Cougars (26-17, 8-7) squarely on the bubble for a postseason berth. They’ve dropped five of their last seven games, and have fallen from second place to a tie with East Carolina for fourth place in C-USA. The Cougars, however, have the tie-breaker over ECU by virtue of their 2-1 series win in late March.
The Cougars led 6-4 after seven innings Sunday, but the Golden Eagles rallied for three runs off UH senior reliever Bryan Tully in the bottom of the eighth to take a 7-6 lead.
Tully (3-3) allowed the first three batters to reach with two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. The right-hander struck out junior center fielder Bo Davis for the first out of the inning, junior shortstop Brian Dozier singled in sophomore catcher Kyle Maxie and senior third baseman Chris Matesich to tie the game at 6. Tully was relieved by freshman right-hander Jared Ray.
The crushing blow came only moments later when UH sophomore catcher Austin Goolsby attempted to pick off Dozier at first base, but his throw sailed past junior first baseman Jimmy Cesario and into right field, allowing junior right fielder Michael Ewing to score from third.
Ray struck out two of the next three batters he faced to end the inning and give the Cougars a chance to rally in the top of the ninth, but Golden Eagles sophomore reliever J.R. Ballinger (4-0) retired all three batters he faced to seal the win.
The Cougars got off to a sound start, scoring a run in each of the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings to take a 4-1 lead. Tully and senior left fielder Jake Stewart supplied the biggest hits with solo home runs in the fourth and fifth, respectively. Stewart’s blast increased his team-leading homer total to 11.
That lead was trimmed to one run when Ewing cracked a two-run shot off of UH freshman closer Chase Dempsay with one out in the sixth inning.
Freshman right fielder Matt Murphy increased the Cougars’ lead to 6-3 by driving in Cesario and senior second baseman Ryan Lormand with a one-out single in the top of the seventh. Michael Ewing’s twin brother, junior second baseman James Ewing, responded with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh that served as a prelude to Dozier’s big hit in the next inning.
The Cougars couldn’t catch many breaks in the first two games of the series, falling 4-3 and 12-9 on Saturday and Friday, respectively. James Ewing’s pinch-hit, RBI-single provided the game-winning run in the sixth inning of Saturday’s game, and the Golden Eagles roughed up Cougars sophomore left-hander Wes Musick (7-3) for six runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings in Friday’s game.
