Daniel Poncedeleon was named C-USA pitcher of the week. | Courtesy of UH Athletics
Despite repeated interruptions by springtime southern showers, UH was able to win two out of three games against conference rival Memphis this weekend. The Cougars moved to 23-6 on the season and 5-1 in Conference-USA play.
The contest saw UH shine with two outstanding pitching performances.
Senior righthander Austin Pruitt earned his sixth win of the season as he shut out Memphis 2-0 in a game shortened to seven innings for the double-header. Righty reliever Chase Wellbrock earned his fourth save of the year in 1.0 innings of relief for Pruitt.
Junior right-hander Daniel Poncedeleon threw his first career complete game on Friday. Through nine innings he walked none and struck out eight. Poncedeleon picked up his fourth win of the season, which moved him to 2-0 in C-USA play and 4-0 for Friday starts.
“That was as good as Ponce has been. He was really good last week and even better this week,” said head coach Todd Whitting. “The main thing with him is just confidence and knowing his stuff can stand up in the zone, and that is what he did tonight. He isn’t trying to strike everyone out, he is just trying to make them swing inside the zone.”
Freshman infielder Josh Vidales was able to extend his streak of 22 consecutive games reaching base before failing to reach base in the third game of the series.
Runs were few and far between for both teams as the scores for the game were, in order, 3-1, 2-0 and 1-0. Junior catcher Caleb Barker and freshman outfielder Kyle Survance each had RBIs over the weekend.
The Cougars return home to Cougar Field 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to take on the Bearkats of Sam Houston State University before again traveling, this time to Charleston, West Virginia to take on the Thundering Herd of Marshall University in another three-game C-USA bout.
