University of Houston Athletics
Farrington Leads Baseball to Win in LBSU Series Opener
3/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2005
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Junior southpaw Matt Farrington held No. 35 Long Beach State to only one run in a career-high eight innings of work to help lead the University of Houston baseball team to a 2-1 win over the Dirtbags in the opener of a non-conference series at Blair Field.
Farrington, who struck out six and walked only one, kept the LBSU hitters off balance with an impressive changeup. The Sugar Land, Texas, native improved to 3-0 to extend his winning streak to a career-best three games and allowed only two baserunners to reach beyond first base through the first eight innings.
In the ninth inning, LBSU rallied with a run off two hits, but junior righthander Justin Vaclavik forced a flyout and groundout to end the threat and record his team-leading fourth save of the season.
Sophomore outfielder Jake Stewart went 2-for-3 with a run, while Kevin Roberts batted 2-for-4 with an RBI to pace the Cougar offense.
Chuck Sindlinger went 2-for-3 with a run to account for nearly half of LBSU's hit total.
With the win, the Cougars won their fourth consecutive game to improve to 7-9 and record their third win over a nationally-ranked opponent. LBSU dropped to 12-8.
The series continues at 4 p.m. (CST) before wrapping up at 3 p.m. (CST), Sunday. Both games can be heard live over the Internet at www.UHCougars.com with former Cougar letterwinners Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling the action. Fans also can follow the action by clicking on the "Gametracker" link at www.UHCougars.com.
Junior righthander Kevin Roberts is slated to take the hill for the Cougars. This season, Roberts has compiled a 1-0 record with 15 strikeouts and a 3.32 ERA in 19.0 innings.
He will be opposed by LBSU Marco Estrada who has a 3-0 record with a 2.16 ERA.
The Cougars struck for the game's first run in the fourth inning. Stewart led off with his second infield single of the night and moved into scoring position on Mark McGonigle's second sacrifice bunt. After Roberts' infield single allowed Stewart to reach third base, Dustin Kingsbury laced a sharp grounder to LBSU first baseman Brandon Godfrey, who elected to throw home. However, Stewart slid in under catcher Chris Jones' tag to give the Cougars a 1-0 advantage.
UH doubled its lead in the eighth inning. Travis Tully reached on a leadoff infield single and moved into scoring position following Stewart's sacrifice bunt. Ramos then fielded Mark McGonigle's grounder up the middle and caught Tully in a rundown between second and third base, but not before McGonigle reached second base.
Roberts then laced a line drive over the head of Godfrey into right field, allowing McGonigle to score.
In the ninth inning, Sindlinger laced a single into left field. After Vaclavik entered the game, Godfrey slapped the first pitch he saw into left field to give LBSU runners on first and second with no outs. Vaclavik then forced Sean Boatright into a flyout to right field, and Chris Jones hit into a fielder's choice that scored Sindlinger but gave LBSU a runner on first with two outs.
That run was the first by a Cougar opponent in 19.0 innings after UH shutout area rival Sam Houston State 4-0 on Tuesday at Cougar Field. Prior to that, Loyola Marymount was the last opponent to score against UH with a run in the eighth inning during the series finale on March 6 at Cougar Field.
The Dirtbags continued to threaten when pinch hitter Cole Jacobsen was hit by a Vaclavik pitch, but the Cougar reliever forced pinch hitter Tom Wolf to ground out to first baseman Brad Lincoln to end the rally and the game.
