Houston goes 1-2 in College Classic matchups against Texas State, Vanderbilt, and Louisiana | Oscar Herrera/The Cougar
Cougar baseball went 1-2 in the Astros Foundation College Classic, with two extra-inning battles with Louisiana and Texas State and a matchup against No. 9 Vanderbilt.
UH vs Louisiana
In UH’s final matchup, the Cougars beat the University of Louisiana 13-10 in a thrilling 11 innings.
In the 11th, Justin Murray tallied his fifth RBI of the evening, giving the Cougars the advantage.
Singles from senior outfielders Tre Jones and Cary Arbolida drove in two more for Houston.
Extra innings were just the icing on the cake for a game that included 29 hits, 23 runs and 20 pitchers.
Senior catcher Jonathan French hit a three-run blast in the second for the first score of the evening.
The Cajuns went on 6-1 in runs before a seventh-inning double from Murray gave Houston a lead.
Louisiana once again responded tying the game.
French’s fourth RBI, scored another run to give the Coogs an 8-7 lead before the Cajun’s forced extras.
UH vs Texas State
In their first game, the Cougars faced the Texas State Bobcats, narrowly losing 8-7 in 10 innings.
Houston finished the 10th with a two-run single by junior outfielder Cameron Nickens, giving UH a 6-5 lead at the end of the eighth.
Texas State tied the game with a home run in the ninth, forcing a 10th inning.
Senior Anthony Tulimero scored a run with help from a fly ball from Nickens, but Texas State sealed the game with two runs in the bottom of the 10th.
Houston started on the right foot junior pitcher Jaxon Jelkin threw 5.1 innings with eight strikeouts.
Jones hit a single that allowed Murray and senior infielder Jake Rainess to score the first two of the afternoon.
After the second and third innings followed with no score, the Bobcats put up four runs, giving Texas State a 5-2 lead at the end of the seventh.
In the eighth inning, the Coogs scored four runs of their own with a solo home run from Jones, along with senior utility Alex Lopez driving in sophomore catcher Kenneth Jimenez with a fly ball.
UH vs Vanderbilt
The Cougars lost to ninth-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores, 3-1 in their second game.
Throughout the game, UH failed to get anything going offensively.
The Cougars’ lone run came from Nickens fifth-inning home run, his first of the season.
Next up, the Cougars will return home to Schroeder Park to take on Sam Houston on Tuesday.
