Fast-forward: Houston completes Silver Glove sweep in run rule fashion to open crucial final homestand

Among late-season midweek madness in college baseball, and the continual cancellation of games for the purpose of protecting RPI, Houston baseball made such concerns look little in as early as the opening frame of its final four-game homestand.

Sending 14 batters to the plate in the home first and going 10 for their first 16 at the plate through the first 2 ⅓ innings provided a fast-forward tone for the Cougars’ 14-3 seven-inning run rule win over Rice Tuesday at Schroeder Park. 

While it marked the Cougars’ third consecutive sweep of the Silver Glove series, the win was also a template for momentum ahead of a crucial final weekend in Big 12 play in determination of keeping their season alive after the weekend. 

Coach Todd Whitting recognized the momentum in facing an Owls squad that won five out of their last six contests in the American Conference, whereas they already clinched their trip to a conference tournament. 

But by the second inning, with Houston holding an 11-0 lead in line for the run rule and putting coach David Pierce at his third reliever out of the Owls’ bullpen, the night heeded a quicker end that left the Cougars already looking forward to keeping their homestand undefeated.

“We need to go for 4-0 this week,” Whiting said. “But as with anytime you’re playing a crosstown rival, we did a pretty good job of playing Rice this year. Rice is a better team than the score, they were second place in the American, so that’s probably the way they came up in that fight.”

Fueling that early cushion was a career accomplishment of junior outfielder Tre Broussard, who in racking two singles in two trips to the plate in the first inning, recorded the 50th multi-hit game of his career. He began 3-for-3 by the second, having stolen his 23rd and 24th bases of the season. 

These were promising sights for Whitting, who supported Broussard’s career since he attended Houston’s youth camps. 

“Tre’s a special player and you’re going to see he’ll probably play in the big leagues for a long time,” Whitting said. “You know, he had a little rough stretch there in April, but I’m glad to see he’s snapped out of it. He’s on fire right now.”

After hitting .215 in the month of April and enduring as high as an 0-for-14 slump over a four-game stretch, Broussard is now batting .458 in 48 at-bats over his current 11-game hitting streak. 

He and senior infielder Tyler Cox, who drove in a game-leading four runs on a pair of two-run singles, accounted for two of five Cougars with a multi-hit game on the night. 

While forcing Rice to use six pitchers out of its bullpen, all it took were four pitchers and two quality innings each from right-handers Alex Solis, Diego Luzardo and Tyler Bryan to keep the run rule in effect for Houston. 

With one leg of the homestand quickly down, the Cougars, at 23-29 overall, will turn the page to their regular season finale series against No. 22 Arizona State, where they could face elimination from Big 12 tournament contention as early as the series opener on Thursday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m.

Sitting three games back of the 12th and final seed for tournament contenders, Houston, with its elimination magic number down to one, must win out while relying on Cincinnati for a sweep of 12th-place Texas Tech, who the Cougars hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over. 

If Texas Tech wins its series-opener Thursday, Houston would be officially eliminated from Big 12 tournament contention for the second time in three seasons in the conference.