Chris Iriart’s three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning did more than put Houston ahead in its Friday game against the Alabama Crimson Tide; the arching shot was the first home run and subsequent runs Alabama pitching had given up all season and proved to be the winning margin in the 3-1 game.
The Cougars, now 5-0 on the season, dispatched the Tide despite a pair of early inning run-ins with errors and calls from the umpires as well as an 18-minute game delay due to a faulty set of lights.
The Houston pitching staff, performing at its same level from last year, held the powerful Alabama offense to one run. Sophomore right-hander Andrew Lantrip worked through seven innings, allowing only one earned run on the way to his second win in five games.
“He got all of that one. That was a big lift for us,” said head coach Todd Whitting of Iriart’s shot.
“The deal tonight was that we pitched. We hung in there, and I’m really proud of our team because (Alabama) had a lot of opportunities to pull away and blow the game wide open. A pitch here and a pitch there, and this game is five to six runs different in a heartbeat.”
Iriart, the designated hitter who went 1-3, racked up three RBI and is now hitting .389 for the season, said he just had the proper moment.
“I was looking for a fastball, and I wasn’t swinging at anything else,” said Iriart. “He just left it up, so I took advantage of it.”
The impact of the runs was not lost on the dugout.
“We were scattering hits here and there, but we just couldn’t put anything together,” said Lantrip. “We got two guys on and then the big hit. Taking that lead was big.”
Iriart, a junior transfer from Orange Coast College with two home runs early in the season, felt a similar atmosphere to the team’s comeback win against Texas Southern on Wednesday.
“I think we started off slow and didn’t know what to expect, but once we started rolling we were good to go.”
The moonshot by Alabama lefty Taylor Guilbeau was the separation needed for Lantrip to rediscover his rhythm and his slider, a pitch that got him through the night.
“I felt like I had it in the bullpen. You have to have confidence in it,” said Lantrip, who spread five strikeouts over his seven innings of work.
“You have to have the confidence that you can throw any pitch in any circumstance in any count.”
