HOUSTON, Texas – The Arizona Wildcats (5-2) put together a late-innings rally that fell just short in a 9-7 loss to the Houston Cougars (4-2) on Saturday night at Schroeder Park.
 
Arizona scored three in the top of the eighth inning on a three-run home run off the bat of Cameron Cannon – his first homer of the year – that cut the Houston lead to 9-6 and got the Wildcats back into the game. They followed with a one-run ninth that left runners on base before the Cougars managed to shut the door on the Wildcats comeback attempt.
 
Designated hitter Tate Soderstrom also mashed his first home run of the year – and his first collegiate homer – on Saturday night. His two-run bomb came in the top of the fifth inning and brought the score 6-3.
 
Center fielder Matt Fraizer led the Arizona offense with a 3-for-5 performance that included two runs scored and brought his season batting average up to .375, the third-best mark on the team.
 
The Wildcats used six pitchers on Saturday night: starting left-handed pitcher Andrew Nardi (2.1 IP), right-hander Nate Brown (2.2 IP), right-hander Jonathan Guardado (1.0 IP), right-hander Cameron Haskell (0.2 IP), southpaw Randy Abshier (0.0 IP), and righty Vince Vanelle (1.1 IP).
 
Brown relieved Nardi and worked two-plus scoreless frames for Arizona; he allowed just one hit and logged one strikeout across 10 batters. Brown has allowed just one run across two appearances and 4.2 innings of work this year.
 
Vanelle also logged a shutout performance out of the bullpen – his scoreless eighth inning helped keep Arizona in the game and set up the Wildcats ninth-inning push.
 
The Wildcats and Cougars wrap up their series on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 PM MST. Live streaming, stats, and audio can be found at UHCougars.com.