University of Houston
McNeese State
Baseball Rallies Late to Upend McNeese State on Tuesday
5/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 1, 2007
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LAKE CHARLES, La. - Dustin Kingsbury's two-run double in the top of the ninth inning broke a tie and helped lift the University of Houston baseball team to a 5-4 win over McNeese State on Tuesday at Cowboy Diamond.
Bryan Tully and Jimmy Cesario drew back-to-back, one-out walks to start the Cougar rally in the top of the ninth inning. Following a MSU pitching change, Kingsbury smashed a 1-0 offering from reliever Chris Denton to the wall in right center to plate both runners.
The Cougars needed both runs as McNeese State rallied in the final frame, pulling to within a run on Thomas Zabasky's RBI-single to right field.
However, that would be as close as the Cowboys would get as UH reliever Chris Wright recorded a strikeout and flyout the end the threat and the game. Wright improved to 3-1 after allowed only one unearned run off two hits with a pair of strikeouts in 1.2 innings.
Wright was just part of a solid relief outing by the Cougars. Sophomore righthander Barry Laird allowed only one hit with three strikeouts in a career-best-tying four innings of work, while sophomore southpaw Jimmy Raviele limited the Cowboys to only one hit with a pair of strikeouts in one inning.
Kingsbury, who made his 164th consecutive start in the Cougar infield, finished the night 2-for-5 with a run, double and two RBIs to lead the Cougar offense, which was outhit 9-7. Senior first baseman Josh Stirneman went 2-for-5 with a run and double in the win.
David Leatherwood went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI, while Shon Landry finished the night 2-for-4 with an RBI to pace the Cowboy offense.
With the loss, the Cougars improved to 25-19 overall, while McNeese State fell to 16-28. The Cougars also swept the regular-season series against the Cowboys after enjoying a 12-4 win on Feb. 20 at Cougar Field.
The Cougars return to Cougar Field this weekend to play host to Conference USA rival East Carolina in a three-game series. That series begins with 7 p.m. games on both Friday and Saturday before wrapping up at noon, Sunday. Fans can hear Cougar Baseball games live on UHCougars.com with former Cougar letterwinners Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling all the action. Fans can follow live stats by clicking on the "Gametracker" link on the front page of UHCougars.com or on the Schedule and Results page off the Baseball main page.
In addition, Friday's game will be televised live on CSTV with Carter Blackburn calling the play-by-play action and Buck Martinez providing color analysis. This will be the third of four games to be televised on CSTV during the 2007 regular season. The Cougars enjoyed a 5-2 win over No. 5 Rice on April 13 and posted a 7-0 win at No. 23 Tulane on April 20.
Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the "Gametracker" link on the front page of UHCougars.com or on the "Schedule and Results" page off the Baseball main page.
The Cougars struck for the game's first runs in the second inning. Kingsbury led off with a sharp single up the middle and moved all the way to third following Stirneman's double off the center-field wall. Two batters later, Zak Presley lined an RBI-single up the middle to plate Kingsbury, and Bryan Pounds sacrifice foul-out to right field plated Stirneman for a 2-0 Cougar lead.
UH struck for another run in the third inning. Tully started the rally with a one-out, bunt single and moved to second following Cesario's single to center field. After a fielder's choice put runners on the corners, Kingsbury moved to second base after a wild pitch and Tully scored easily when the throwdown to second base bounced into center field.
McNeese State answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the third, thanks to four hits and a Cougar miscue in the outfield. Leatherwood and Landry rapped out back-to-back RBI-singles to highlight the Cowboy inning.
