Cougars surge past Owls
UH scores 10 in eighth inning on way to most runs against rival
SUGAR LAND — The University of Houston had some extra baggage on the bus ride back to campus Tuesday night.
The Silver Glove Trophy for an unprecedented third year, NCAA tournament hopes that still have a pulse and bats that hadn’t seen this much of a workout all season.
The Cougars picked up another key late-season RPI booster with a 24-6 drubbing of No. 16 Rice at Constellation Field.
A back-and-forth affair through six innings gave way to a record-setting performance as the Cougars scored their most runs against the Owls in the 181game history of the series between crosstown rivals.
The 24 runs tied for the most by any team in the series. Rice won 24-3 in the 2010 Conference USA tournament.
“It started as two heavyweight fighters going toeto-toe,” UH coach Todd Whitting said. “(Then) it just got out of hand.”
The Cougars delivered the TKO with three runs in the seventh, 10 runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth as the back end of the Rice bullpen imploded.
Joe Davis went 3-for-6 with six RBIs, including his first career grand slam. Connor Wong, Corey Julks and Justin Montemayor also homered for the Cougars.
A Silver Glove Series that had gone decisively in Rice’s favor for more than a decade has tilted to UH, which has won seven of the last nine regular season meetings since 2014. The last time UH won the series three straight seasons was 1987-89.
After losing the series opener 7-4 in late March, UH outscored Rice 34-6 over the final two meetings.
“Their antics after Game 1 lit a fire,” Wong said. “They were yelling in the dugout and doing ‘shhh’ with their finger. You really can’t do that. They messed with the baseball gods, and the baseball gods got ‘em.”
UH (32-20) has made a dent in its RPI during the past week, going from the mid-90s to 76 entering Tuesday. The climb has been aided with two wins over Rice and one over Louisiana-Lafayette, teams with high RPIs that could factor into the NCAA selection committee’s decision whether to include the Cougars in the 64-team field announced later this month.
UH ends the regular season with a three-game series at home against No. 11 Tulane.
“We’ve had a rough season,” Whitting said. “We’re not done.”
Tied 6-6, UH scored three runs in the seventh, highlighted by a RBI triple by Josh Vidales and solo home run by Montemayor.
UH sent 14 batters to the plate during a 10-run eighth inning. Davis had five of the RBIs alone, including a grand slam for his 11th home run, extending the UH single-season freshman record.
Andrew Lantrip, making his first appearance since leaving his last start May 6 with arm soreness, threw 12⁄3 scoreless innings to pick up the win.
Rice freshman Ben Schragger, the Owls’ 10th pitcher of the game, hit four batters — including three in a row — in the ninth inning.