Well I loved Cross Game to death, until I finished H2. Admittedly, H2 is quite slow, and drags on, considering it has 34 volumes, and it covers three Koshien seasons...
However~! H2 by the last three volumes suddenly increases heat and you never know what's coming. That's the difference between Cross Game and H2. Cross Game always had a feeling of nostalgia, and melancholy, and predictability. And that's why it was such a good read too, i suppose. Coz you just wanted to root for the hero all the way, and he's so good you know he's going to make it in the end. It's like you just keep reading because there's the awesome tsundere that deserves better...
H2 on the other hand, has two heroes, (thus H-2), and both are stellar and justified, and for the rest of the volumes this is pretty much it. Until the very end where, of course, they battle it out...
For the most part I'd prefer Cross Game, ending in a sweet way like you want it to, but the ending of H2 was such a good one it just blew my mind away.