Houston Wins Don Sanders Cup

Tuesday, April 7

Huntsville, Texas

6 p.m.

University of Houston

16-15

Sam Houston

14-18

Houston

Sam Houston

4/7/2026 10:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Late rally pushes Cougars past Bearkats in decisive game three

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Don Sanders Cup is back in Houston. Houston Baseball won the decisive third game of the series, 5-4, at Don Sanders Stadium on Tuesday night to clinch the fourth Don Sanders Cup title since the series began in 2017.

Senior Ryne Rodriguez (1-0) picked up his first win as a Cougar, tossing the final 2.1 innings for Houston (16-15). Zach Alarid (0-1) suffered the loss for Sam Houston (14-17) after allowing three runs in his 2.0 innings of work.

PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS

Xavier Perez: 2-4, 3B, RBI, R, BB
Jackson LaLima: 1-4, 2 RBI
Antonelli Savattere: 1-3, R, 2 BB
Alex Solis: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K

NOTABLES

Junior Riley Jackson reached in his eighth straight game, tying his longest streak of the season.
Senior Antonelli Savattere is on a five-game hitting streak.
Senior Cade Climie posted his 10^th extra-base hit of the season. Ten of his 14 hits on the season have been for extra bases.
Junior Alex Solis posted his 29^th career scoreless pitching appearance.
Sophomore McClane Helton picked up his 20^th walk of the season, second-most on the team.
Redshirt sophomore Xavier Perez scored his team-leading 30^th run of the season while freshman Blake Fields scored his 25^th.

GAME SUMMARY
Houston grabbed the first lead of the game as Perez tripled home Fields in the third inning. The three-bagger was his third of the season, tying his total from his debut campaign last year.

The Bearkats took their first lead of the game with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. The score held until the eighth, where the Cougars posted four runs in their half of the frame. Two singles from Perez and Jackson as well as a Savattere walk loaded the bases, with Perez scoring on a wild pitch. After Helton walked to reload the bases, LaLima drove home two with a single to center, pushing the score to 4-2. Senior Tyler Cox capped the inning with a sacrifice fly that drove home Helton, putting Houston up by three.

Sam Houston answered with a pair of runs to cut the deficit to one, but Houston held off any last-inning comeback to win, 5-4.

UP NEXT
Houston returns home for a three-game series against BYU. The set starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday before continuing at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The series wraps up at 1 p.m. Saturday.

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– UHCougars.com –