Baseball Loses Regular Season Finale, 4-1, Against UCF

May 16, 2009

Orlando, Fla. - The 2009 baseball season ended in the same fashion that it started, with the Cougars falling to UCF, 4-1, on Saturday afternoon at Jay Bergman Field. Two losses bookend the Cougars' regular season that ends with a 25-29 record and a 13-11 mark in league play.

Houston will now look to rebound in the win column at the Conference USA Championship beginning Wednesday in Hattiesburg, Miss. The Cougars take the No. 3 seed into the tournament and will face UAB on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m.

In Saturday's contest, the Knights took the early 2-0 lead in the second inning. They followed that up loading the bases in the third inning with no outs, but William Kankel entered the game in pitching relief to guide the Cougars out of trouble without giving up a run.

The game would continue on without a run being scored by either team until the Knights padded their lead, scoring two additional runs in the fifth inning. The Cougars avoided the shutout in their final at bat scoring Zak Presley on a Chris Wallace groundout to third base. Presley ended the game going 3-for-4 at the plate, scoring the Cougars lone run to lead all UH batters.

On the mound, Houston used five pitchers in the game. Michael Goodnight opened the game going two innings, allowing two run with one strikeout, before Kankel pitched 2.1 innings, with two runs and one strikeout. Frank Corolla faced one batter in the fifth before Donnie Joseph came in to pitch 2.2 scoreless innings behind six strikeouts. Mo Wiley closed out the final inning of the game.

LOOKING AHEAD
Houston has locked up the No. 3 seed for the Conference USA Championship to be held in Hattiesburg, Miss., on May 20-25. They will play the 9 a.m. game against UAB on May 20, marking the third consecutive season they the Cougars will play the opening game of the league tournament. The remainder of the Championship bracket will be announced following Saturday's league action.

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