After UH took two out of three games from UCF over the weekend, earning its ninth and tenth wins in American Athletic Conference play, UH head coach Todd Whitting said he tinkered with a few things regarding the Cougar baseball psyche.
UH denied UCF its 30th overall season win twice in a row; once in dramatic fashion on Saturday, winning 4-2, and at a more methodical pace on Sunday, winning 5-2.
“For me, I want to see them embrace situations to win the game,” Whitting said, mixing psychology with baseball. “We need to turn fear into fun. There are times when we get up there and we’re tight. They’ve got to get over the occassional frustration and take it out on their opponent.”
After UH put up season wins 34 and 35 over the weekend, the team started taking advice from their skipper. Ashford Fulmer came off the bench to hit a pinch home run in game 2 on Saturday.
“I knew if I got in the game, I’d have one job, and that’s hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Fulmer said.
Fulmer’s homerun made a winner out of UH reliever Bubba Maxwell, giving him his third win of the season after coming out of labrum surgery. Maxwell, along with UH relievers Chase Wellbrock, Tyler Ford and Andrew Lantrip have so far combined to win 15 games against no losses.
“The bullpen, once again, was outstanding,” Whitting said. For the weekend, UH’s two winning pitchers, Maxwell and Ford, were out of the bullpen. Ford earned his sixth win.
UH batting can go from methodical bulldozing to a high drama, as evidenced by its excelling in two out situations.
“To leave here with a win is huge for us,” said senior first baseman Casey Greyson. Greyson extended his streak of reaching base safely to 21 and knocked in five runs over the weekend.
With Sunday being Senior Day, UH finished its final regular weekend series at Cougar Field, with a solid 24-8 record so far this season.
“I like being at home,” Whitting said. “We have great crowds out here and there’s a lot of enthusiasm about the program. But you know, Omaha (site of the College World Series) is played on the road and that’s our ultimate goal.”
The pageantry of Senior Day, the final game of the series, was an added plot device.
“The last few years, we’ve lost Senior Day,” Grayon said. “It’s good to come out and play in front of fans like this. It was good to come out here and get a win.”
