The Cougars’ bats were silenced until the eighth inning, which cut McNeese State’s comfortable lead from 10 to eight. Five runs in the second inning allowed McNeese State to cruise to a victory at Cougar Field. | Newton Liu/The Daily Cougar
The Cougars played just like the weather yesterday — ugly.
In a continuation of recent struggles, the pitching staff could not consistently get outs, and the hitters struggled to get on base as the Cougars lost 10-2 Tuesday at Cougar Field.
“We didn’t compete at home plate,” head coach Todd Whitting said. “We had the walks early and didn’t get good starting pitching.
“We absolutely did not compete as a team.”
UH (6-6) struggled against the Cowboys’ pitching all night, collecting only three hits. Chase Jensen drove in the Cougars only runs with his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to left in the eighth.
“We went to home plate with no plan and no purpose,” Whitting said. “It was a lack of everything at home plate.”
Making his first career start, Dakota Dill was erratic going only one-and-two-thirds innings. He allowed two earned runs, while walking four and striking out five.
The Cougars bullpen did not fare much better, allowing eight runs on 13 hits.
Whitting said that the drizzly weather did not play a major part in the outcome of the game, because the Cowboys were playing through the same conditions.
McNeese (8-6) jumped out to an early lead, scoring five runs in the second inning. They added one run in the fifth inning, two in the seventh and two more in the eighth.
“McNesse played hard,” Whitting said. “They came in here to kick our butt and that’s exactly what they did.”
Offense late to the party
Whitting said that the Cougars pitching struggles have to do with the lack of depth, but that it’s not just up to the pitching staff to win games. The offense has to pounce early
“It’s not all up to our pitching,” Whitting said. “We haven’t had any offense of late. The only thing we do well is play defense.
“All the way back to the Ole Miss series we’ve been leaving runners on base. As far as good old-fashioned driving runs in, we don’t do it.”
The Cougars will have a chance to turn things around against TSU at 6:30 p.m. tonight at Cougar Field.
