Baseball

Longhorns spoil fall finale, UH falls 7-2

Junior first baseman Casey Grayson smashed five hits in the Cougars’ two fall scrim- mage games against Rice and Texas. | Yvette Dávila/The Daily Cougar

Junior first baseman Casey Grayson smashed five hits in the Cougars’ two fall scrim- mage games against Rice and Texas. | Yvette Dávila/The Daily Cougar

The Cougars closed their fall schedule with a 7-2 loss to UT on Sunday.

“I thought we played well,” head coach Todd Whitting said. “The main positive for today was the pitching staff. Jared Ray was in mid-season form. Mo Wiley threw well; Every guy that went out there pitched really well.”

Despite scoring two runs, Whitting said the offense had some bright spots.

“We had really good at-bats against a really good pitching staff,” Whitting said. “(Casey) Grayson was outstanding at home plate.

“Grayson was 3-5. Wes Theiss was 2-5. We had a pretty good day at the plate.”

Going forward into the spring season, defense will be the focus for the Cougars.

“The main thing I learned is that we have to get better on defense,” Whitting said. “I think that we are really going to pitch well. We have a chance to have a great offense, but the primary focus for the coaching staff is going to be defense.

“A lot of the stuff that we have going on right now is because we’re so young,” Whitting said. “We had an all-freshman outfield the entire game. They committed some errors in the outfield. You got to grow up quick.”

With the scrimmages out of the way, UH will now transfer to an off-season conditioning program with an emphasis on weightlifting.

“We have six to eight weeks to develop our bodies,” Whitting said. “We need to get as strong as we can, build muscle mass. Kind of like a squirrel putting away acorns for the winter, you got to store up and get as strong as you can now, because it’s going to break down during the season.

“We just have to work on athleticism and strength.”

The Cougars will have plenty of time to build up muscle; the spring season starts in 124 days, on Feb. 17.

Leave a Comment