Senior first baseman Ryan Hernandez has hit six home-runs in the last 11 games now for the Cougars and had a two-run shot in game two of the final series of the season against ECU. | Sean Thomas/The Cougar.
UH baseball ended the 2021 season on a low note after being swept by ECU in the final series of the regular season, bringing their late-season losing streak to six and finishing with a 34-22 record on the year.
Game 1
ECU got on the board early in game one on Thursday after a wild pitch allowed a runner from third base to score and put the Pirates up 1-0 going into the second inning.
After a second inning stalemate from both sides, the Cougars turned up the heat in the third.
A single from junior outfielder Brandon Uhse brought home two scores for UH and soon after redshirt sophomore infielder Zach Arnold capped off the big third inning with a two-run shot to put the Cougars up 4-1.
Things were quiet again up until the sixth inning, where ECU was able to come right back with a four-run inning of their own to reclaim the lead at 5-4.
UH failed to produce the rest of the game and a big eighth inning put the Pirates up even more and they ran away with a 8-4 win in the first game of the series.
Game 2
ECU was able to get on the board first again after the Cougars gave top back-to-back solo home runs, putting the Pirates up 2-0 early in the first inning.
The Pirates kept their foot on the gas with pair of RBI’s in the second inning and pushed the lead to 4-0 going into the top of the third inning.
UH kept ECU quiet for the next five innings and in the process managed to mount a comeback effort after senior first baseman Ryan Hernandez launched a two-run home run to right center-field in the the fifth inning to make it a 4-2 ballgame.
After another scoreless inning from the Pirates, the UH cut the lead down to just one run after Arnold singled into center-field and brought home a runner.
ECU tacked on another score in the eighth inning to widen the gap and get the lead back to two runs.
The Cougars were unable to come up with another score and the Pirates were able to survive the late UH scoring-surge and take game two 5-3.
Game 3
The Cougars got on the board first for the first time in the series in game three after sophomore outfielder Samuel Benjamin brought two-runners home off a single into right-center field, putting the Cougars up 2-0 in the second inning.
The Pirates were able to come up with an answer in the third after a big single of their own brought a runner home and cut the lead in half.
Things went quiet up until the eighth inning but ECU broke the silence with an RBI double that was hit into left-field and the Pirates tied the game up at 2-2 going into the top of the ninth inning.
With both teams coming up empty in the ninth, game three headed into extra innings.
The Cougars had the first chance to take a lead in the top of the tenth inning, but came up empty for the eighth-straight inning and gave ECU a chance to steal the game and the Pirates did just that after a walk-off single brought home the winning run from second base.
The Pirates 3-2 win in game three made it a clean sweep in the final series before the American Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.
