Baseball Knocks Off Tulane, 9-7, In Series Opener

Friday, May 7

COUGAR FIELD

6:30 PM

University of Houston

20-24, 0

Tulane

27-20, 0

Tulane

Houston

5/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 7, 2010

Final Stats

Box Score in PDF Format

HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team knocked off Tulane, 9-7, to earn a series opening win over the Green Wave Friday night at Cougar Field.

Ryan Still hit his first career home run as a Cougar and finished the night 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Zak Presley was also 2-for-3 at the plate and Matt Creel and Chris Wallace added two hits apiece.

Mo Wiley earned the win after coming in to the game in the fourth inning, allowing one run with two strikeouts. Creel recorded his seventh save of the season, pitching the final inning of the game with two strikeouts.

Joel Ansley started things off for the Cougars in their first at bat with a triple to right field before scoring on Caleb Ramsey's ground out to second base. M.P. Cokinos then reached base on an error by the Tulane catcher and scored on Creel's single to right center.

Brandon Middleton quickly tied the ball game with a two-run home run in the top of the second inning, plating Garrett Cannizario who reached base on a single to center field. Austin Gracey would then lead off the bottom of the inning with a single to center field. He would advance to second on Ryan Still's sacrifice bunt to first base and score on Blake Kelso's double down the left field line, giving Houston the 3-2 lead.

The Green Wave would then score two runs in the third and a single run in the fourth to take back the lead, 5-3.

Houston put together a big fourth inning to regain the lead. Wallace led off with a single through the middle. Gracey would double down the right field line to put runners in scoring position as Still came to the plate to blast his first home run over the right field fence. Kelso followed with a single up the middle. He would steal second and score on Ansley's RBI single to left field.

Tulane would pull within two with a single run in the sixth and cut the deficit to one in the seventh before Houston tacked on a single run in the bottom of the eighth to hold off the Green Wave. With two outs, Presley singled to the pitcher and scored on Creel's double to left field.

With the win, Houston improves to 20-24 on the season and 7-9 in Conference USA.

UP NEXT
The series against the Green Wave will continue on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., with the series finale scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.