Houston Cougars outfielders gather during an NCAA college baseball game on Friday, April. 10, 2026, in Houston, Texas. | Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar
With a little over a month left in the baseball regular season, Houston’s baseball season has experienced its fair share of highs and lows. As of the BYU series from April 9-11, the team currently sits at 16-18 overall with a 3-12 conference record, becoming last in the Big 12 conference.
Redshirt sophomore outfielder Xavier Perez has been the team’s best hitter this season as he leads the team in hits, home runs and RBI with 40 hits, nine dingers and 27 runners scored.
Junior catcher Riley Jackson is right behind Perez in home runs and RBI, with seven home runs and 20 runs scored, while senior infielder Cade Climie leads the team in on-base percentage 1.018.
Houston’s premier pitcher this season has been senior left-hander Ryne Rodriguez, holding the lowest ERA among relief pitchers at 3.86, striking out 43 batters while allowing 17 earned runs and 34 hits over 39.2 innings pitched.
Another intriguing pitcher has been junior right-hander Richie Roman, boasting the lowest ERA on the team at just 2.40 and has 15 strikeouts. He has allowed just four earned runs off of 10 hits in 15 innings. For his efforts, Richie has been placed on the 2026 Pitcher of the Year award along with senior right-hander Paul Schmitz and junior right-hander Alex Solis.
The Cougars’ crown jewel win this season came in a midweek game when they upset No. 2 Texas at Schroeder Park 9-7 on March 24 after a four-game skid.
Additionally, Houston came away with its first conference series win of the season and first series win in Lubbock since 1980, beating Texas Tech in the first two games of a three-game weekend series over April 2-4.
The Cougars opened the season with an 8-2 upset win over then-No. 21 Wake Forest in the Puerto Rico Challenge on Feb 13. The Cougars ended the Puerto Rico Challenge at 4-0, beating Boston College 5-1, Manhattan 4-2 and Washington 8-7.
However, Houston ran into the first of their losses against the UTRGV Vaqueros. Houston took the first game of its series against UTRGV 11-3 and then dropped the final two games 10-6 and 8-4.
Since this series, Houston has gone 9-11 over their last 20 games, with series losses against Kansas State, Kansas and Baylor. The Cougars’ single conference win during this stretch came in the series finale against Kansas State when they beat the Wildcats 16-6.
Houston suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of Kansas and Baylor, suffering high run numbers in nearly every game. The most recent series saw Houston get swept at the hands of the BYU Cougars at Schroeder Park.
Next, the Cougars will take on Texas A&M for a midweek contest on April 14 in College Station before traveling to Morgantown, W. VA to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in a three-game series over April 17-19.
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