With two losses against the East Carolina Pirates, sophomore M.P. Cokinos and the Cougars fumbled away their tie for first place in Conference USA, dropping down to a tie at third. | Aaron Cisneros/The Daily Cougar
The Cougars lost their second conference series of the season as they dropped two of three games against East Carolina.
With the losses, UH (20-21, 7-5 Conference USA) fell to third place in the conference.
1,382 fans were on hand to see the Cougars and the Pirates duke it out in Saturday’s series finale at Cougar Field. Instead, they witnessed a run-rule shortened 12-2 shellacking of the Cougars.
“We are one pitch away from winning two out of three games against what I think is the best team in the league,” head coach Todd Whitting said. “Their record in the league doesn’t indicate it, but I think that they are the best team in the league. They can pitch, they’re really athletic and they can swing the bat.
“They are what I want our program to be. They play hard and they play with class.”
ECU (27-13, 8-7 C-USA) came out came out of the gates swinging, setting the tone early.
Lead-off batter Ben Fultz landed the first punch, hitting a home run to right field. ECU kept landing devastating shots the entire game, hitting five home runs.
With the game still in reach at 4-0, the Cougars scored their first fun in the fourth inning.
After scoring the initial run, the Cougars loaded the bases, but were unable to capitalize.
In the next inning, ECU put the game out of reach by scoring six runs, increasing the advantage to 10-1.
UH tacked on its last run in the fifth. ECU added two runs in the sixth inning when Whitehead hit his second homer of the day, allowing the run rule to come into effect.
With the game at 12-2, the Cougars failed to score in the seventh, and the umpire called the game.
Starter Mo Wiley pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits. UH used seven pitchers total.
“You can’t go to two and three ball counts on every hitter and expect to have success,” Whitting said.
“You have to throw strike one and get ahead.”
Friday’s game provided the only bright spot for the Cougars, as they beat the Pirates 4-2.
ECU scored its first run of the game in the third inning, but the Cougars responded and tied it 1-1 in the bottom half of the inning.
In the next inning, the Cougars took the lead when M.P. Cokinos scored on a Codey Morehouse groundout.
UH increased its lead to 3-1 in the sixth inning when John Cannon laid down a bunt to score Chase Jensen, who started the inning with a triple. They added another run in the seventh inning to push the lead to 4-1.
ECU cut the deficit to 4-2 in the eighth inning, but could not get any closer as the Cougar pitching held off any advances.
Starting pitcher Jordan Lewis allowed one run on five hits and struck out 10 batters.
Jordan Mannisto pitched the final two innings to record the save.
The first game of the series dealt the Cougars a heartbreaking 5-4 loss.
With a 4-1 win seemingly in hand, the UH bullpen blew the three-run lead with two outs and no one on base.
ECU managed to tie the game 4-4 and eventually went on to win in the 12th when Whitehead singled in Jack Reinheimer.
The Cougars could have extended the game, but they left the tying run standing 90 feet away at third base.
UH will have little time to dwell on the series loss, as they hit the road to take on Stephen F. Austin (29-12, 15-6 Southland Conference) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Nacogdoches.
