Feb. 24, 2007
Box Score
FRISCO, Texas - The Houston Cougars broke open a scoreless game with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and thwarted the UT Arlington comeback with three more runs in seventh inning to hand the Mavericks a 8-3 defeat Saturday afternoon at the Southwest Diamond Classic.
The Cougars (6-6) found their offense in the fifth inning as Josh Stirneman started the inning with a home run to straight-away center field. With one out, Bryan Tully doubled off the right-center field wall and scored on a Bryan Pounds double to left field that was lost in the sun. Zak Presley put runners on the corners with a single through the left side before Ryan Lormand delivered a sacrifice fly to center field. The final run scored on a Jimmy Cesario double just inside the bag at first.
UTA (4-7) got a pair of runs back in the sixth as Kyle Rudy drew a leadoff walk and scored on Ben Burum's pinch-hit home run to left center.
The Mavs pushed across another run in the seventh as Mitch Putman started the inning with a double to left field and went to third on Leo Radkowski's chopper over the mound for a base hit. Rudy drew a one-out walk to load the bases and Lance Nobile drove in a run with a groundout.
The Cougars answered back in the bottom of the inning as a leadoff hit by pitch and a single by Lormand came around to score on a double down the right-field line off the bat of Felix Fanaselle. Dustin Kingsbury drove in the third run of the inning as he slapped a ball through the right side of the infield.
Luis Flores added another run on the board for the Cougars with his fourth home run of the season to right center.
Nathan Long (0-2) looked strong in his first career start as he limited the Cougars to just one hit and needed only 37 pitches to cruise through four innings. The fifth inning was his downfall as he gave up four runs on five hits to take the loss. Wes Musick (2-2) picked up the victory as he gave up two runs on seven hits over six innings of work.
McLeod, Rieder, Radkowski and Rudy each collected a pair of hits for the Mavs as they collected 11 hits, but stranded 13 base runners.
The Mavs return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 27 as they travel to take on Baylor. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.
