CBD Column: Houston cruises by Baylor 17-3

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SPECIAL TO CBD: Austin Staton, WeeklyBrewCast.com
HOUSTON — The Houston Cougars put on an offensive showcase Saturday afternoon as the Coogs eliminated the Baylor Bears from the Houston Regional with a 17-3 win at Schroeder Park.

The Cougars (41-20) established postseason school records for runs scored (17), hits (20), RBI (17) and margin of victory (14). Jake Scheiner’s six RBI also marked a program record in postseason play.

““We came out, obviously, ready to play today. I’m proud of the ball club for responding to a really tough loss last night [against Iowa],” said UH head coach Todd Whitting. “Overall, great effort. John King was lights out again. Then [Fred Villarreal] coming in there at the back half and doing his thing. Obviously, the offense put up a lot of runs. Overall, complete effort and played great defense as well.”

Corey Julks opened the game for Houston with a two-run shot to left field off of Baylor (34-23) starter Alex Phillips. The Coogs then tacked on a run in the top of the second with an RBI single from Lael Lockhart, scoring Joe Davis.

Phillips (4-3) was charged with the loss after he was tagged for three runs on three hits in two innings of work.

Houston continued their offensive onslaught in the sixth as Davis crushed a 3-2 pitch off of Baylor reliever Hayden Kettler for a two-run homer, scoring Julks. The Coogs added three more runs in the frame with an RBI single from Lockhart and a two-run single to left from Scheiner.

“Houston is a good team. There’s a reason they’re hosting,” said Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez. “We competed well this weekend and last weekend [at the Big 12 tournament]. We did some good things, but unfortunately the bad outweighed the good. Long term, I told [our team] that I’ve never been prouder of the way a team competed.They competed early in the season, in the middle when we weren’t clicking offensively, and they played with a reckless abandon in the end that was very fun to watch.”

Houston starter John King held Baylor scoreless through five innings before allowing a two-run homer to Matt Menard in the sixth, and the Bears added one more with an RBI double from Davis Wendzel. King finished the afternoon allowing three runs on eight hits with five strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work.

Houston added eight more runs in the seventh as they sent 14 to the plate.

“The team is pretty used to adversity. We’ve had a lot of it this year,” said Whitting. “You look all over the country and then at this Regional, and this is the most balanced regional. Everybody wants to say it’s the toughest. It is tough, but it’s even. Every team in this Regional is literally the same team. They’re all good offensively. Each guy has to go out and do his one-ninth and keep pushing.”

Houston will now play the loser of the Iowa-Texas A&M game Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.