Junior first baseman Ryan Hernandez’s three-hit, four RBI game powered Houston past Incarnate Word 13-7 Wednesday night in San Antonio.
The Cougars started the game with a bang, sending 10 men to the plate in the top of the first, resulting in five UH runs on five hits, the biggest being a 3-run home run to left-center by Hernandez.
The Cardinals fought back from their early deficit, scoring three runs in the third and two in the fifth to tie the game up 5-5.
UH retook the lead in the top of the sixth as senior outfielder Tyler Bielamowicz, who had four hits on the night, took advantage of a UIW error, scoring all the way from first base on pop up that the Cardinals mishandled.
UIW answered in the bottom of the seventh, evening the game at six. But UH quickly broke the game open, tallying six hits which resulted in seven Cougar runs in the top half of the eighth and ninth innings to make it a 13-6 ballgame.
Sophomore reliever Derrick Cherry did his job out of the UH bullpen, throwing two innings of four strikeout baseball, allowing one run that was unearned due to a throwing UH error, to close things out and secure a 13-7 Cougar victory.