University of Houston
UCF
Touchton, Tully Lead Baseball to Series Sweep at UCF
3/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 25, 2007
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ORLANDO, Fla. - Freshman righthander John Touchton held UCF scoreless through the first six innings, and Bryan Tully went 3-for-4 with a run to lead the offense as the University of Houston baseball team enjoyed a 7-2 win Sunday over the Golden Knights in the finale of a Conference USA series at Jay Bergman Field.
Making only his second start of the season and the first C-USA outing of his career, Touchton held the Golden Knights in check through a career-best six innings, allowing only three hits with three strikeouts. The Houston native retired 10 of the first 11 batters that he faced to help set the tone and lead the Cougars to their first C-USA series on the road since winning three straight at UAB on April 2-4, 2004.
Touchton, who evened his season record at 2-2 with the win, was part of an impressive performance during the UCF series by Cougar hurlers who allowed only three unearned runs over 27 innings.
Meanwhile, the Cougar offense exploded for 12 hits with six of those going for extra bases. Tully went 3-for-4 with a run and double to lead UH, which outhit the Golden Knights 12-7. Junior infielder Bryan Pounds went 2-for-4 with a run, double and three RBIs, while sophomore catcher Luis Flores batted 2-for-4 with a run, homer and two RBIs. Senior first baseman Josh Stirneman went 2-for-3 with a home run and three runs in the win.
UCF starter Jaager Good collected the loss and fell to 3-2 after giving up five runs off seven hits with six strikeouts in 5.2 innings.
Kiko Vazquez went 3-for-5, while Chadd Hartman batted 2-for-5 with an RBI.
The Cougars return to action at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday when they meet Lamar at Vincent-Beck Stadium in Beaumont. This will be the second time in 2007 that these two teams have squared off after the Cougars enjoyed a 7-1 win at Cougar Field on March 7.
Most Cougar Baseball games can be heard live on UHCougars.com with former Cougar letterwinners Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling all the action. Fans can follow live stats by clicking on the "Gametracker" link on the front page of UHCougars.com or on the Schedule and Results page off the Baseball main page.
For the third straight game, the Cougars scored the first run, this time in the third inning. Pounds led off with a sharp single to left center and moved up following a groundout. After a wild pitch allowed him to take third base, Pounds scored when Felix Fanaselle lifted a sacrifice fly into center field.
The score remained that way until the fourth inning when Stirneman led off with a home run to right field.
The Cougars broke the game open in the sixth inning with three runs off two hits. Jimmy Cesario led off with a walk and moved to second after a groundout. Stirneman reached on an intentional walk, and two batters later, Tully reached on an infield single that made its way past Good, thanks to some funny English on the ball, that loaded the bases. Pounds then emptied the bases with a three-run double off the wall in left center for a 5-0 Cougar lead.
The Golden Knights loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh and scored their first run when Ryan Richardson scored from third on Dwayne Bailey's groundout and Eric Kallstrom came in on Hartman's two-out, RBI-single.
However, the Cougars answered in the next half inning with a pair of runs of their own. Stirneman rapped a one-out single up the middle and scored when Flores blasted a two-run homer down the left field line.
