It was a home run party at Schroeder Park Tuesday, as Houston smashed five homers in its 12-8 victory over Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
The Cougars fell behind 2-0 early as sophomore left-hander Cameron Prayer struggled to find his rhythm, which allowed the Islanders to jump ahead.
In the bottom of the second, UH’s bats, which produced 30 runs in the Cougars weekend sweep over TSU, picked up right where they left off. Sophomore infielder Adam Becker got the scoring started for UH with a 2-run double.
The next batter, sophomore infielder Brad Burckel, delivered an RBI single to put UH ahead for the first time in the game.
Junior outfielder and reigning American Athletic Conference Player of the Week Steven Rivas stayed hot at the plate, belting a 2-run blast to right field to extend the Cougars lead to 5-2.
The Islanders cut into the Cougars lead, making it a 6-4 game midway through the fourth inning, but UH responded with another big inning at the plate thanks to back-to-back home runs from sophomore outfielder Brandon Uhse and Rivas, his second long ball of the afternoon.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, senior outfielder Tyler Bielamowicz and Burckel joined in on the home run party as Bielamowicz hit a solo shot to left field, followed by a Burckel 2-run home run to left a few batters later to extend the Cougars lead to 12-5.
The Islanders tried to mount a comeback in the ninth inning, loading the bases with no outs, but sophomore reliever Derrick Cherry came out of the bullpen and limited A&M Corpus Christi to three runs to secure a 12-8 UH win.
Sophomore right-hander Maddux Miller, who did not allow a run and struck out three in 1 and 2/3 innings in relief, earned the win for the Cougars.