Lee homers twice to lift Jags in opener with Huston-Tillotson

Zach Lee wanted to make a change to improve his offensive production.

So, before UHV's games against Texas College and DePauw University last week, the El Campo native got a haircut and ditched his trademark look.

"A lot of things changed," Lee said. "The mental aspect really changed. I guess we can blame it on the haircut. I came into last week with a whole lot more confidence and trust in my abilities. Really just got ahead and starting playing baseball again."

Lee went 3-for-5 at the plate with four RBIs and homered twice at Riverside Stadium as the Jaguars beat Huston-Tillotson 8-2 in the opening game of their Red River Athletic Conference series on Friday.

His second home run of the game, a three-run shot in the eighth capped the scoring for UHV (16-18, 10-6). His six home runs this year matches his total from 2022.

He has three home runs in the last two games. In his last three games, Lee is hitting .538 with eight RBIs.

Friday night was Lee's second multi-home run game as a Jaguar. His first was April 9, 2021 against Jarvis Christian.

"Like I said, he made an adjustment and did a couple things," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "He's seeing the ball really well. What we've been teaching and preaching all year, it's finally coming into play with him and boy is he seeing the ball well."

Haldamel Perez slashed his sixth home run of the year in the fourth inning to put the Jaguars up 2-0 open a scoring barrage that saw UHV score runs from the fourth to the eighth inning.

The Puerto Rican battery finished the game 1-for-2 with three walks to go with his fourth-inning shot.

"It feels pretty good," Perez said. "I've been in a slump, but I worked it out. I had a good talk with coach Stav and it helped me a lot. He told me to just go out there, have fun and enjoy it. It felt good to help the team out and increase our lead."

Hayden Leopold led the offense with a team-high four hits from the leadoff position. Kaden Fikac turned in a multi-hit performance, as well, with a pair of hits, including a double.

Mason Longoria picked up his third win of the year after allowing only one run on three hits with a career-high nine strikeouts in seven innings of work.

It was the third time this season in which the Victoria native threw seven innings.

"He was a dog tonight," Stavinoha said. "We've been trying to get that killer instinct in him and pumping him up to figure out what he needs to do to get the right mindset to come out there and just dominate. We had a good gameplan with him and Hal behind the plate. They did a great job executing it."

The two teams will conclude the series on Saturday with a 12 p.m. doubleheader. UHV will hold its homecoming ceremony between games.