Baseball Drops Season Opener, 12-4
Feb 13, 2004 | Baseball
Houston, Texas - Houston broke open a 4-3 game by scoring eight runs over the final four innings as the Cougars spoiled Kansas State’s 2004 season opener with a 12-4 win Friday at the Minute Maid College Classic in Houston, Texas, in Brad Hill’s first game as head coach of the Wildcats.
"I thought we came out and played pretty well early on," Hill said. "We just gave up too many walks and had a few costly errors there in the sixth inning, and you cannot afford to do that against a team like Houston."
After the Wildcats (0-1) pulled within 4-3 with a run in the bottom of the fifth, two crucial K-State errors and walks led to five unearned Cougar runs to up the Houston lead to 9-3. The Cougars (1-0) then added one run in the seventh and two in the eighth to put the game out of reach.
Kansas State jumped out on top early as the Wildcats plated two runs in the bottom of the third to grab the early 2-0 lead. Ryan Saltzgaber, in his first collegiate at-bat, legged out an infield single while Terry Blunt followed pursuit to give the Cats runners on first and second. Marc Chabot followed with a double to left-center, scoring Saltzgaber, and a sacrifice fly by Josh Dent scored Blunt to give the Wildcats a two-run advantage.
Houston answered with four runs in the top of the fourth, all earned, that chased starter Brett Bagley (0-1). Bagley finished the day with 3.2 innings pitched and gave up four runs on five hits while striking out one and walking three.
Houston’s Matt Varner picked up the win on the mound for the Cougars.
K-State pulled within 4-3 in the fifth when Chabot drove in Saltzgaber, who singled, with a single to right, but Houston answered with the five-run sixth, highlighted by a two-run homer from Patrick Breen.
Chabot led the Wildcats’ eight-hit attack with a 2-for-3 performance with 2 RBI while Zach Saunders finished the game 2-for-2 with two walks. Saltzgaber also had two hits and two runs scored with seven assists from his shortstop position in his collegiate debut. Seven pitchers and 23 total players saw action Friday for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats will look for their first win of the season Saturday when they face Ohio State. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. at Minute Maid Park. Live stats will be available at www.k-statesports.com.
Houston (1-0) 000 405 120 12 14 0
K-State (0-1) 002 010 010 3 8 2
Win - Varner (0-1), Loss - Bagley (0-1)
2b - Cooley, Bruce; Chabot, Saunders, Heinrich; HR - Breen.
KSU
