Baseball Falls to No. 3 Houston, 3-1

Friday, February 20

Houston, Texas

6:30 p.m

Alabama

3-1

Houston

5-0

Alabama

Houston

Baseball Falls to No. 3 Houston, 3-1

2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 20, 2015

HOUSTON - A three-run homer proved to be the deciding factor in Friday night's game, as the Alabama baseball team fell to the third-ranked Houston Cougars, 3-1. With the loss, the Crimson Tide moves to 3-1 on the early season.

"I thought it was a well-played game on both sides," said head coach Mitch Gaspard. "Their pitching did a really nice job, as we knew they' would coming in to this game. By the looks of it, the game came down to a three-run homer. We missed a couple opportunities there with those little things that could win us the game."

Alabama tallied the first run of the evening in the top of the fourth, starting with a Casey Hughston double off the center field wall just inches short of a home run. Next in the order, Kyle Overstreet grounded to the shortstop with Hughston running to third, but a slide by Hughston that missed the tag gave the Tide runners at first and third with no outs. In the very next at-bat, Chance Vincent singled to the outfield on a sinking liner that snuck under the left fielder's glove to plate Hughston and give Alabama the early lead, 1-0.

In the bottom of the sixth, Houston seized the lead on a three-run home run from Chris Iriart, his third of the season. With one out, the Cougars doubled and then followed the extra-base hit with a walk before Iriart's home run. The three runs were the first the Crimson Tide has surrendered all season and ended a streak of 32.1 innings of scoreless work by the pitching staff to start the year.

The Crimson Tide received another quality start from senior Taylor Guilbeau, who tossed 6.0 innings, allowing three runs on four hits while walking two and striking out a career-high tying seven batters in the process. Alabama's bullpen once again provided solid work, helping the Tide limit the Cougars in key situations, tossing a combined 2.0 innings and striking out two.

"The guys are playing hard, and we'll clean up some areas, but overall I think is why we're here playing one of the top teams in the country," Gaspard added. "I thought we matched up really well. I'm looking forward to getting back out tomorrow and playing them again."

Alabama and Houston will continue the weekend series tomorrow evening at 6:30 p.m. CT inside Cougar Stadium. Junior right-hander Will Carter is scheduled to get the nod for Alabama, while Houston counters with junior righty Jake Lemoine.

Get all the latest information on the team by following AlabamaBSB on Twitter and Instagram and on Facebook at Alabama Baseball. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.

ALABAMA GAME NOTES

· Taylor Guilbeau's seven strikeouts this evening tied his career high. Guilbeau has now recorded the total four times for his career and twice this season (also, 2/13 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore).

· The home run surrendered by Guilbeau was his first since March 12, 2013 against Memphis. His homerless streak lasted 69.0 innings of work.

· The 92 pitches by Guilbeau in tonight's game are the most by an Alabama starter this season.

· Before the three-run home run surrendered by the Tide in the bottom of the sixth, the Alabama pitching staff had accumulated 32.1 scoreless IP. The 32.1 innings of scoreless ball are the most since last season when the Crimson Tide had a 37.2 scoreless IP streak. Last season's streak ran from the bottom of the sixth in the Capital City Classic against Auburn on March 5 until the top of the seventh inning in the March 11 game against Samford.

· Alabama has now limited its opponents to five or less hits in all four contests this season.

· The Crimson Tide bullpen has not allowed a run across 10.0 innings of work.

· The Alabama offense has recorded an extra-base hit in all four contests thus far.

· In four games, Alabama has recorded nine stolen bases. The Crimson Tide offense produced 32 across 61 games last season.

· Georgie Salem has recorded four stolen bases and at least one stolen base in three of the Tide's four games thus far. He didn't record his fourth stolen base until April 4 at Texas A&M last season (29 games).

· Casey Hughston recorded two hits on the night and has now recorded two or more hits in all four games this season. Hughston has never recorded multi-hit performances in four consecutive games, and did not record his fourth multi-hit performance of the season last year until April 13 at Auburn (28 games). The two doubles also marked the first game of his career with multiple extra-base hits in the same night.

· Chandler Avant recorded the first multi-hit performance of his career with his two hits in tonight's contest.