Comeback Complete at Cougars Close Down Tulane

NEW ORLEANS – Junior utility player Justin Murray shined in the Cougars 5-4 comeback win for its seventh-straight conference series win against Tulane at Turchin Stadium on Saturday night.

With the win, the Cougars (30-20, 14-5) maintained their first place position in the American Conference standings a half a game ahead of East Carolina.

With the game tied at 4-4 in the top of the ninth, junior utility player Alex Lopez drew a walk before junior third baseman Zach Arnold reached on a catcher interference and Murray was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A Cameron Nickens sacrifice fly to deep right field gave the Cougars the lead as Lopez crossed home plate. Murray then retired the side in the bottom half of the inning denying Tulane (14-36, 7-13) a walk off.

Murray (4-0) improved his undefeated season to four wins working 2.0 innings with no hits, no runs and striking out three batters. Tulane's Michael Lombardi (0-2) surrendered the winning run in the ninth taking the loss for the Green Wave.

Game Highlights:

The Cougars have now secured seven-straight series conference wins. The last time the Cougars had won their first seven-conference series was in 2006 when they won every series. Outside of the conference match ups, Houston's series wins dates back to the Minnesota contest when the Cougars swept the series from March 17-19.
With the win, the Cougars maintained their first-place position in the American Conference standings.
Justin Murray was perfect at the plate for the second time this season. The junior previously went 5-5 at Memphis on April 23.
With his fourth win of the season, Justin Murray now leads the team in wins as well as saves.
With the start at shortstop, Ian McMillan has now started 128 consecutive games and has taken sole possession of No. 6 all-time at Houston.

Player Highlights

Justin Murrray: 4-4, R, HBP; W, 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K
Ian McMillan: 1-2, R, 2 RBI, HR, 2 BB

Key Innings:
5th | The bottom of the second inning proved to be detrimental to the Cougars as Tulane brought across four runs in the half inning for 4-0 lead. Houston struck back in the top of the fifth as senior shortstop Ian McMillan homered also bringing home junior designated hitter Dylan Post who had doubled earlier in the inning for a 4-2 lead.

8^th | With the Cougars down 4-2 in the top of the eighth inning, Houston rallied as Murray recorded his fourth hit of the game, singling down the line to bring junior third baseman Zach Arnold home making it a one run game. A Nickens single to centerfield moved Murray to third base before Nickens stole second. With Post at the plate, Tulane's pitcher threw a ball behind Post which reached the back stop giving Murray the chance to slide home to tie the game at 4-4. Murray then retired the side from the mound in the bottom of the half inning.

9^th | With the bases loaded, Nickens flew the ball out to right field giving Lopez the go-ahead opportunity to make the score 5-4. Murray closed the game with a swinging strikeout from the pitcher's mound in the bottom of the ninth.

UP NEXT:
Houston will look for the series sweet on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN+ with a live radio broadcast on The Varsity Network.

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Justin Murray

Zach Arnold

Cameron Nickens

Dylan Post

Players Mentioned

Zach Arnold

Alex Lopez

Ian McMillan

Justin Murray

Cameron Nickens

Dylan Post

Players Mentioned

Zach Arnold

Alex Lopez

Ian McMillan

Justin Murray

Cameron Nickens

Dylan Post

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