Baseball Cannot Overcome Mistakes in 8-7 Defeat at Houston

Saturday, April 22

Houston, Texas

6:30 p.m.

Tulane University

20-20, 8-3

Houston

26-12, 7-4

Tulane

Houston

Photo by: Parker Waters

Baseball Cannot Overcome Mistakes in 8-7 Defeat at Houston

Apr 22, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

Box Score

HOUSTON – Houston scored two unearned runs in the final two innings to top Tulane, 8-7, and even the American Athletic Conference series Saturday evening at Schroeder Park.

The Green Wave (20-20, 8-3 American) committed four errors in the game, including three in the final two innings that allowed the tying and winning runs to score. The Wave led, 7-3, after a six-run fifth inning. The Cougars (26-12, 7-4 American) scored three runs in the third inning, three in the seventh, and one each in the eighth and ninth innings.

Hunter Williams homered in the fourth inning, and Grant Witherspoon blasted a three-run homer in the fifth to give Tulane a 4-3 lead. Jarett DeHart, Grant Brown and Hunter Hope followed with RBI hits, extending the lead to 7-3. Houston, which had used a combination of small ball and an error to score three runs in the third inning, cut it to 7-6 on a two-run triple and a run-scoring double in the seventh. Two errors and three sacrifice bunts plated the tying run in the eighth, and a leadoff error followed by a double scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

The series rubber match is at 1 p.m. Sunday, and can be heard on 88.3 FM WRBH and the Tune In Radio app.

"We just gave them too many freebies on some bunts, and they took advantage of it," Tulane head coach Travis Jewett said. "Sometimes when you give them too many (opportunities), a good team will take advantage, and tonight they did just that. The thing is, we've been in Sundays where we've won all the games going in, and this is just a different way to try to win this series. I'm excited to see how our guys respond tomorrow. I trust them, and we're going to try to flush this one quickly and get back at it."

Tulane responded to Houston's three-run third inning by scoring seven runs on eight hits in the next two frames, including the six-run fifth. Williams got a run back immediately with a home run to lead off the fourth inning. He put his seventh homer of the season over the billboard in left center field to cut it to 3-1.

In the fifth, Witherspoon gave Tulane the lead, 4-3, on a three-run home run to right center. His fourth homer of the season also scored Kody Hoese, who led off with a double, and Jake Willsey, who bunted for a single to begin the inning. Jarret DeHart followed with an RBI double that scored Williams from first base, Grant Brown singled home DeHart, and Hunter Hope doubled home Brown to make the score 7-3.

Houston started the third inning with a single to right center and a bunt single, followed by another bunt single with a throwing error that allowed a run to score. A sacrifice bunt with runners at second and third plated two more runs to make the score 3-0. In the seventh, two singles were followed by a two-run triple and an RBI double to cut Tulane's lead to 7-6.

J.P. France struck out seven batters and allowed six runs, five earned runs in 6.2 innings. He was replaced by Chase Solesky who struck out the first batter he faced to end the inning and strand runners on the corners.

The eighth inning began with a fielding error on a grounder to second, followed by two sacrifice bunts that included an error at first to put runners at second and third with one out. Christian Colletti (1-2) came on in relief and recorded the final two outs, but a squeeze bunt scored the tying run. The ninth inning began with a fielding error on a ground ball at short, then a sacrifice bunt and a double scored the winning run for Houston.

UH reliever Aaron Fletcher (1-0) gave up a run and two hits in the fifth inning, then allowed just one hit and a walk for the rest of the game to earn the win.

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Houston 8, Tulane 7 (Apr 22, 2017 at Houston, Texas)
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Tulane.............. 000 160 000 - 7 10 4 (20-20, 8-3 AAC)
Houston............. 003 000 311 - 8 9 1 (26-12, 7-4 AAC)
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Pitchers: Tulane - FRANCE, J.P.; SOLESKY, Chase(7); COLLETTI, Christian(8) and GOZZO, Paul.
Houston - CUMBIE, Trey; FLETCHER, Aaron(5) and WONG, Connor.
Win-FLETCHER, Aaron(1-0) Loss-COLLETTI, Christian(1-2) T-2:52 A-2020
HR TLN - WITHERSPOON, Grant (4); WILLIAMS, Hunter (7).