Even after victories, Houston coach Brent Hall has challenged his team to play better. The Tigers responded with one of their best outings of the season.
Ethan Williamson and Devin Coulter drove in four runs apiece as Houston cruised past Liberty 12-2 Monday in five innings.
Hall said he was pleased with the way his team performed after a sloppy 4-2 victory Saturday against Norwood to conclude the Hartville Tournament.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Hall said. “Even though we are a young team, by the middle of the season I expect us to clean up some of those things. I was pretty hard on them after the Norwood game, even though we won. We responded today.”
Williamson, Coulter and Kaleb Poynter had two hits apiece against Liberty. Lucas Cooperman scored three times.
Eli Smith improved to 3-3 with five strong innings. He scattered five hits, struck out seven, walked none and didn’t allow an earned run. He threw 79 percent of his pitches for strikes.
“He usually drops his elbow and hits a batter or two. He didn’t do that today,” Hall said. “That’s what we expect from Eli every time he goes out there. He has done it before.”
Houston (7-6, 3-2 SCA) won two of its three games over the weekend in the Hartville Tournament. The Tigers actually hosted the tournament due to field conditions in Hartville following inclement weather.
In Friday’s tournament opener, Cooperman, Smith and Quinton Alston had two hits apiece in an 11-4 win against Hartville.
Cooperman struck out 10 batters for his first victory of the season. He gave up four hits and three earned runs.
On Saturday morning, state-ranked Conway scored four runs apiece in the fourth and fifth innings en route to an 8-1 win.
Houston managed just three hits.
In the consolation game against Norwood, freshman Aaron Cantrell struck out four batters and gave up two hits for hits first career victory.
Williamson, Coulter and Nathan McCarthy had two hits apiece.
On Thursday, Coulter’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh lifted Houston to an 11-10 victory against Thayer.
Williamson was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. Coulter and McCarthy drove in three runs apiece.
Box scores
VARSITY
Monday’s game
Liberty 002 00 — 2 5 5
Houston 330 06 — 12 10 2
lhs ab r h bi hhs (7-6) ab r h bi
Zitter cf 3 1 1 0 Cprmn 1b 3 3 1 0
Weaver ss 3 0 1 0 Wllmsn 3b 4 2 2 4
Thomas p 2 0 0 1 Poynter 2b 3 2 2 0
Spittler rf 2 0 0 0 ESmith p 3 1 1 1
Smith 1b 2 0 1 0 Coulter ss 3 0 2 4
Martin lf 2 0 1 0 McCarthy c 0 1 0 0
Cmmn 3b 2 0 0 0 Alston lf 2 0 0 0
Reneger c 2 0 0 0 Merckling lf 0 0 0 0
Smith 2b 2 1 1 0 Preheim dh 3 1 0 1
Cantrell cf 2 2 1 0
Totals 20 2 5 1 Totals 23 12 9 10
2B: Smith. SB: Cooperman 2, McCarthy 2, Cantrell 2, Poynter, ESmith, Coulter. CS: Williamson. SF: Coulter. SAC: Merckling.
liberty ip h r er bb so
Thomas, L 4.1 6 9 3 5 7
Weaver 0 2 3 3 1 0
Comman 0 1 0 0 1 0
houston ip h r er bb so
Smith, W 3-3 5 5 2 0 0 7
Saturday’s games
Houston 022 00 — 4 8 3
Norwood 001 01 — 2 5 1
hhs (6-6) ab r h bi nhs ab r h bi
Cprmn 1b 2 0 1 1 Forrest cf 3 1 1 0
Wllmsn dh 3 0 2 0 Chadwell p 3 0 3 2
Poynter 2b 2 1 1 0 Jenkins ss 3 0 1 0
Smith ss 3 1 0 0 Laclucy lf 3 0 0 0
Coulter 3b 3 1 2 1 Caswell 3b 3 0 0 0
McCarthy c 3 0 2 1 Mason dh 2 0 0 0
Preheim rf 2 0 0 1 McIntosh 1b 1 0 0 0
Durbin cf 3 1 0 0 Bredshaw c 2 0 0 0
Cantrell p 2 0 0 0 Tate 2b 1 0 0 0
Davis 2b 1 1 0 0
Totals 23 4 8 4 Totals 22 2 5 2
2B: Forrest. SB: Coulter, Jenkins. SAC: McIntosh.
houston ip h r er bb so
Cantrell, W 1-0 5 2 1 0 0 4
norwood ip h r er bb so
Chadwell, L 5 8 4 3 3 2
Conway 000 44 — 8 8 1
Houston 001 00 — 1 3 2
chs ab r h bi hhs (5-6) ab r h bi
Huckaby rf 3 0 1 1 Cprmn 1b 3 0 1 0
Rosenthal c 4 1 2 0 Wllmsn 2b 2 0 1 1
Huckaby ss 3 0 0 0 Poynter p 2 0 0 0
Jones 3b 3 2 1 1 Smith ss 2 0 0 0
Hndrmn 1b 3 1 1 1 Coulter 3b 2 0 1 0
French dh 2 1 1 0 McCarthy c 2 0 0 0
Wellman 2b 2 2 1 1 Alston lf 2 0 0 0
Keeth p 2 1 1 3 Preheim dh 2 0 0 0
Medina cf 1 0 0 1 Cantrell cf 1 1 0 0
Totals 23 8 8 8 Totals 18 1 3 1
2B: Jones. 3B: Keeth. CS: Huckaby. SAC: Medina, Williamson.
conway ip h r er bb so
Keeth, W 5 3 1 1 1 8
houston ip h r er bb so
Poynter, L 2-1 5 8 8 3 4 6
HBP: French
Friday’s game
Hartville 001 30 — 4 4 7
Houston 502 22 — 11 9 2
hhs ab r h bi hhs (5-5) ab r h bi
Buford ss 3 0 1 0 Cprmn p 4 3 2 1
Simmns 2b 2 0 0 0 Wllmsn 1b 4 2 1 1
Dedmn 1b 2 0 0 1 Poynter 2b 3 1 1 0
Ince p 3 0 0 0 Smith ss 3 2 2 2
Hensley 3b 3 0 1 0 Coulter 3b 3 1 1 1
Keith lf 1 1 0 0 McCarthy c 3 1 0 1
Cogdill c 2 1 1 0 Alston lf 3 0 2 1
Prock cf 2 1 1 1 Preheim dh 3 1 0 0
Keith rf 1 1 0 0 Cantrell cf 3 0 0 0
Totals 19 4 4 2 Totals 29 11 9 7
2B: Williamson. 3B: Poynter. SB: Keith 2, Cogdill, Prock, Coulter, McCarthy. SAC: Williamson
hartville ip h r er bb so
Ince, L 2 2 7 0 1 0
Prock 3 7 4 2 0 2
houston ip h r er bb so
Cooprmn, W 1-2 5 4 4 3 4 10
HBP: Dedmon, Poynter.
Thursday’s game
Thayer 102 050 2 — 10 16 5
Houston 221 005 1 — 11 9 0
ths ab r h bi hhs (4-5) ab r h bi
Coffel ss 4 3 2 0 Cprmn 1b 3 2 0 0
Risner 2b 5 0 1 0 Wllmson 2b 4 2 3 1
Tate 3b 5 1 4 2 Poynter p 3 2 1 0
Lemods 1b 5 1 2 3 Smith ss 3 1 1 0
Krieg rf 3 1 1 0 Coulter 3b 4 0 1 3
Foley cf 3 1 2 1 McCarthy c 4 1 1 3
Henry p 3 1 1 1 Alston lf 1 1 0 0
Cabrales c 3 1 1 2 Preheim dh 4 0 1 2
Childrer lf 4 1 2 0 Cantrell cf 2 2 1 0
Totals 25 10 16 9 Totals 28 11 9 9
2B: Lemods, Cabrales, Williamson, Preheim. SB: Coffel, Cabrales, McCarthy. SF: Coulter.
thayer ip h r er bb so
Henry 6 8 10 3 11 5
Childer, L 0.1 1 1 1 1 0
houston ip h r er bb so
Poynter 2.2 5 3 3 3 2
Smith, W 4.1 11 7 7 1 5
HBP: Krieg 2
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