University of Houston
UCF
Baseball Falls to UCF 8-4
5/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 14, 2009
HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team dropped their first league series opener since an April 10, falling 8-4 to UCF on Thursday night at Jay Bergman Field.
Houston had previously won four consecutive series openers after suffering a 13-8 loss to Southern Miss on April 10.
The Cougars will look to rebound against the Knights in the final two games on the regular season on Friday and Saturday.
The Knights jumped out to an early lead in the series opener, scoring four runs on four hits in the bottom of the first.
Houston on the other hand struggled through much of the early going as Knight pitcher Caleb Graham retired the first nine batters before Blake Kelso became the Cougars first base runner with a double down the left field line in the fourth inning. Zak Presley struck out for the first out and Chase Dempsay put a second runner on base with a walk. A single up the middle from Caleb Ramsey scored the Cougars first run of the contest, plating Kelso and moving Dempsay to second. Ramsey was thrown out at second in the next at bat as William Kankel reached on a fielder's choice and Chris Wallace grounded out to third base to end the inning.
In the bottom of the inning UCF added to their total, scoring two more runs to extend their lead to five, 6-1. The Knights followed that up loading the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Cougars were able to get out of the inning without giving up a run, highlighted by William Kankel who caught a fly ball in right field and threw out the UCF runner at home.
The outfield assist by Kankel gives him nine on the season, which is now tied for the third most in single season history with former Cougars Eric Lee and Phil Lewis.
UH was able to score two runs in the eighth inning when Tom Wertz led off with a bunt single and Kelso hit his second double of the game. Wertz would score on a Presley ground out to shortstop and Kelso cut the Cougars deficit to four, scoring on a Ramsey double.
UCF added another run in the bottom of the eighth and Houston loaded the bases in their final at bat and Kankel scored on a sacrifice bunt from Tom Wertz.
LOOKING AHEAD
Houston will continue the series on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and the series finale is scheduled for 12:15 on Saturday.
The Cougars will then travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., from Orlando for the 2009 Conference USA Championship on May 20-25. Seeding for the annual conference tournament is scheduled to be released on Saturday evening after the completion of all the league's games that afternoon.
