UH baseball swept the University of South Florida with three straight wins over the weekend in Tampa.
Here’s how each game went:
Game 1
In Friday’s matchup against USF, the UH baseball team took a slim 6-5 victory.
The scoring opened in the second inning, when UH scored a run on a freshman outfielder Cameron Nickens double to right-center field. Later in the inning, Nickens scored on a single by senior first baseman Ryan Hernandez.
In the bottom of the second, USF evened the score at 2-2 on a two-run home run.
In the fifth inning, USF took a 3-2 lead.
The Cougars began to take control of the game in the sixth inning. On a series of wild pitches, UH was able to even the score at 3-3, and later in the inning sophomore catcher Anthony Tulimero scored on a fly-out play to give UH a 4-3 lead.
The sixth inning saw the Cougars extend their lead following a double by junior outfielder Brandon Uhse and a single by sophomore third baseman Zach Arnold that brought in two more runs for UH.
In the bottom of the inning, USF made the game 6-4 with a solo home run to left field.
USF made an effort to come back in the bottom of the ninth, bringing in one more run to make its deficit just one run.
The Bulls were unable to tie the match up, and UH took the series’ opening game 6-5.
Game 2
UH extended their series lead against USF in their Saturday matchup with a dominant 13-2 victory in Tampa.
The Cougars got on the scoreboard first in the third inning with a two-run home run by Arnold to left field.
In the fourth inning, the Cougars ran up the score on USF with a series of runs beginning with two scored on a double by freshman infielder Brandon Burckel. An Arnold double, a score on a sacrifice fly and two more runs on a Nickens homer made it 9-0.
USF put one run on the board in the bottom of the inning, leaving the Cougars with a commanding 9-1 lead.
In the sixth, UH scored two more runs by Arnold and sophomore outfielder Alex Lopez to extend the lead to 11-2. In the following inning, Burckel and Arnold scored runs to give the Cougars their dominant 13-2 victory over USF on Saturday.
Game 3
The Cougars finished their three-game series against USF with another commanding performance, winning in Tampa by a score of 9-2 on Sunday.
UH on the scoreboard quickly, as Uhse scored on a Tulimero fly-out in the first inning.
In the second inning, the Cougars put a second run on the board as redshirt junior Ian McMillan homered to left-center field. In the bottom of the inning, USF scored two runs to even the game.
The third inning saw McMillan hit his second home run of the game, this one a three-run home run to left-center field to give UH a 5-2 lead.
There was no scoring again until the sixth inning when UH continued to assert its dominance with a solo home run by Arnold and another scored run by McMillan.
UH put the final two runs on the board in the ninth inning to seal its dominant three-game run against USF, as McMillan and Tracy both scored on a fly-out and single, respectively.