Freshman Cameron Nickens swung a hot bat for UH baseball over the weekend, hitting three home runs in five at-bats against Incarnate Word. | James Mueller/TheCougar
UH baseball continued to defend its home field over the weekend, taking two out of three games against Incarnate Word at Schroeder Park to improve to 7-4 on the year.
Here is a closer look at how each game went:
Game One
Sophomore center fielder Samuel Tormos got the weekend started with a bang, launching a no-doubt home run to left field to put the Cougars up in the second inning.
Jaycob Deese got the start for UH on the mound and was lights out. The 6-foot-1-inch junior right-hander threw five innings, allowing one run on two hits while striking out six.
Tied 2-2, the Cougars bats broke through to put up a crooked number in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman right fielder Malachi Lott put UH up 3-2 with a sacrifice fly. The Cougars piled on two runs on back-to-back RBI singles from junior left fielder Brandon Uhse and sophomore third baseman Zach Arnold.
The UH bullpen did its job, holding the Cardinals scoreless over the final three innings to secure a series-opening 5-2 victory.
Junior southpaw Cameron Prayer earned the win after coming in in relief to pitch the sixth inning. Another left-hander, Jose Torrealba, closed the game out with two scoreless innings, striking out three, to earn the save.
Game Two
Incarnate Word evened up the series on Saturday night behind an offensive explosion, defeating the Cougars 13-8.
The Cardinals tallied 15 hits, eight of which were for extra bases.
Junior right-handed pitcher Logan Clayton struggled in his third start of the season, giving up six earned runs over two innings of work.
The top of the order for UH kept the Cougars in the game as Uhse, Arnold and senior first baseman Ryan Hernandez combined to drive in six runs on seven hits. But it was not enough to keep up with the Cardinals
Lott, who started the game in right field, was tasked mop-up duty on the mound. Lott was a bright spot on the mound even though he had not pitched in a live game since his high school days seven months ago. The 5-foot-9-inch freshman was perfect, retiring all six batters he faced including striking out two.
Freshman Cameron Nickens hit a pinch hit home run, the first of his collegiate career, in the ninth inning.
Game Three
Nine combined RBIs from Hernandez and Nickens powered UH past Incarnate Word 10-4 in the rubber match on Sunday afternoon.
After falling behind 2-0 after the top half of the first, Hernandez gave the Cougars the lead in the third with a 386-foot three-run bomb to left field.
Incarnate Word retook the lead, scoring two runs in the fourth, but once again, UH answered.
An RBI single from Nickens followed by an RBI triple by Lott put UH up 5-4 after four.
Nickens extended the Cougars’ lead the next inning with a two-run home run to left. In his next at-bat, Nickens went yard again, this time a solo shot, for his third home run of the weekend.
Junior right-handed pitcher Nathan Medrano earned the win for UH, allowing four earned runs over seven innings.
