The UH offense hadn’t been seen for a few games, and its picture was about to be put on the back of a milk carton — until it showed up Wednesday.
The Cougars (7-6) showed up in a big way at the dish against TSU (5-8), padding their stats with 17 hits en route to a 13-3 win.
“I put it on the hitters that we have got to get better,” head coach Todd Whitting said. “I think a lot of the focus has been on the lack of depth in our pitching staff. The pitching staff is not what got us to .500, 6-6. It was a lack of offense.
“I put it on the hitters, telling them they need to get better, and they responded today. We had 17 hits and scored 13 runs. That’s a pretty good day at the plate.”
Five Cougars had multi-hit games. John Cannon reached base in all three of his plate appearances and scored twice.
Chase Jensen and Matt Creel both went 2-for-5 with multi-RBI performances. Caleb Ramsey scored two runs and drove in three for UH.
M.P. Cokinos also got into the act with a 3-for-5 night.
“We came out and had a better approach at the plate,” Cannon said. “We just tried to drive the ball up the middle and the other way. It just worked out for us.”
Pep talk sparks offense
Whitting said that he spoke to the team after Tuesday’s loss and talked about discipline at home plate because players had recently been anxious and in a hurry to hit.
“We just talked about getting our pitch,” Whitting said. “Sit there, eliminate pitches and get something that we can drive.”
The Cougars’ pitching staff had a better performance tonight. Four pitchers combined to allow only three runs and nine hits.
Starting pitcher Jordan Mannisto pitched three-and-two-thirds innings and allowed only two runs, none earned.
Whitting and Canon hope that this victory can be the starting point where things can start to turn for the Cougars.
“We really needed it,” Whitting said. “We didn’t just need a win, we needed a big win.
“I think that going into the weekend this will give us a little bit of our swagger back.”
The Cougars will play their first series away from Cougar Field this weekend when they face Texas State for a three-game set.
The first game starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos.
