By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
A chilly Sunday afternoon was met with cold hitting at Baylor Ballpark, as Houston closed out a series win with a 4-2 pitcher’s duel victory over the Bears.
After knocking out Baylor’s first two pitchers in one inning apiece, the Cougars’ offense shut down, managing just one hit the rest of the way. The Bears went silent, too, stranding six batters across the final seven innings. The series loss dropped the green and gold to 5-7 in Big 12 play, its lone series win coming at No. 23 Arizona in late March.
“I’m frustrated, they’re frustrated,” head coach Mitch Thompson said. “They wanted to win, and they were competing and giving it their best shot.”
Houston didn’t wait around to put runs on the board. Xavier Perez glanced a hard ground ball off the glove of freshman third baseman Pearson Riebock into left field, moving leadoff hitter Coby DeJesus from first to third. Runners on the corners, no outs.
Speedy center fielder Tre Broussard snuck a single through the right side to bring DeJesus home. Aaron Lugo flipped a short sacrifice grounder to Riebock, who charged and threw him out at first as Perez scored. Senior catcher Cortlan Castle bobbled the ball as Broussard stole third. Kenneth Jimenez walked on five pitches. The pressure was mounting.
A mound visit calmed down junior left-handed pitcher Stefan Stahl, who got Baylor out of the inning on a batter’s interference call and a blooper to redshirt sophomore second baseman Travis Sanders, but damage was done. Tyler Cox opened the top of the second inning with a full-count single, knocking Stahl out of the game for good.
Senior left fielder Wesley Jordan smacked a single off the shin of Houston pitcher Kendall Hoffman in the bottom of the first inning, then rounded third on a full-count single from Tyriq Kemp. But two more Cougar runners scored in the top of the second on redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Patrick Hail’s watch, extending the lead to 4-1.
“We didn’t pitch well enough early,” Thompson said. “Got ourselves behind, and we were chasing from the first inning on.”
DeJesus, up for the third time, struck out looking to strand three runners on base in the top of the third. The Cougars’ bats, mourning what could’ve been, went silent.
“I thought our bullpen was fantastic,” Thompson said. “I was glad to see both [Will] Glatch and [Gabe] Craig come back out there and give two really good innings, look like themselves again. That’s a big deal for us. We need them to be great, and they’ve been fantastic for us.”
Houston scattered two more hits across the next five innings. Baylor scored its second run in the bottom of the second inning — but, not to be outdone, proceeded to strand six runners in as many goose-egg innings. The Bears entered the final frame with the same 4-2 deficit they faced most of the afternoon.
Houston reliever Antoine Jean shut down all hope of a comeback, striking out the side swinging to complete a three-inning, eight-strikeout save. Neither team scored after the second inning; the six combined runs marked the fewest in a Baylor loss this season.
Now 21-10 on the year, Baylor will host Texas State Tuesday before heading up to Lubbock to face Texas Tech this weekend. All four games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
