Baseball

For UH, clutch rallies clinch series victory

Two comeback victories led UH to a series victory against USF this weekend. | Justin Tijerina/The Daily Cougar

Two comeback victories led UH to a series victory against USF this weekend.  |  Justin Tijerina/The Daily Cougar

UH’s Easter was buoyed by a 5-3 comeback victory in the rubber match of a three-game series against USF.

The Cougars’ first win of the series followed in a similar vein. UH scraped its way to a 3-2 win behind a rally of singles, sacrifices, walks and relief performances by junior Jared Robinson and senior Chase Wellbrock.

“We have good players,” said head coach Todd Whitting. “We just need our good players to show up every day and play.”

With the 5-3 Saturday win, UH (29-10, 6-6) seems to have taken strides to right its ship for a potential postseason journey. After taking the Thursday through Saturday series against USF (22-17, 8-7), UH is on a more rapid pace that last year’s 36-win season.

The only blip was a 4-3 Friday loss that still saw sophomore Jake Lemoine strike out seven and senior first baseman Casey Grayson go 3-5 from the plate.

Shaking off a sweep by Louisville and aided by a Tuesday win in Huntsville against Sam Houston, UH held USF to nine runs through the three games, something that both Whitting and his players thought was much needed for the benefit of team morale.

“Really, every win is huge,” said senior closer Chase Wellbrock. “Coming off of the sweep from Louisville, it’s a big win.”

With numerical performances such as Grayson going 5-10 for the series and continued high performances from the bullpen, UH is falling into a form that is sometimes dramatic but often effective.

“Us being able to come back and win shows that we never give up,” said sophomore designated hitter Justin Montemayor, who had the game-winning hit on Thursday night. “It doesn’t matter if we’re down by a run or 10 runs, we’re always going to battle until the ninth to get the win.”

The Cougars’ pitching, which continues to be the best frontline weapon for their march to Omaha, racked up still more numbers. On Thursday, junior Aaron Garza got a no-decision but allowed only one earned run in 6.2 innings of work.

The bullpen recorded both UH wins with Robinson moving to 3-1 after Thursday and Wellbrock going to 3-0 after Saturday.

“It was a big situation, but I’m used to these now, with the pressure being on at the end,” said the undefeated Wellbrock on Saturday. “We kind of backed ourselves into a corner with these past few weekends. You can’t take anybody lightly in this conference, no matter who you’re playing. You have to always come with your best stuff and just hope for the best.”

With a rematch against Sam Houston on Tuesday at Cougar Field before a road swing to the Midwest, Whitting is alert to the possibilities and pratfalls of the remainder of the season.

“Cincinnati is a huge road series for us. We’ve put ourselves in a position where we’re back in a little bit of a corner,” Whitting said. “We need to come out next weekend and play really well.”

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