University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Plays Host to Fresno State on Tuesday
3/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 25, 2002
HOUSTON, Texas - Fresh off its sweep of Tulane, the University of Houston baseball team wraps up its five-game homestand Tuesday when it plays host to Fresno State at 7 p.m. at Cougar Field.
The Cougars, who rose to No. 5 nationally in the latest Baseball America poll Monday, come into their only non-conference game of the week after a dominating sweep of Conference USA rival and 35th-ranked Tulane last weekend. In three games, UH outscored Tulane 30-4, outhit the Green Wave 37-19 and outfielded the New Orleans-based school with only one error to TU's 10.
As a result, UH became the first team in league history to sweep the Green Wave in a three-game series.
Sophomore Danny Zell is scheduled to start on the mound for the Cougars. In his last appearance, Zell threw 3.0 shutout innings with five hits and three strikeouts against No. 4 Rice at Cougar Field. This season, the Houston native has tallied a 5.14 ERA with five strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work.
Junior utility star Jesse Crain was the team's leading slugger a week ago, batting .381 with a double, home run and four RBIs. As a result, the San Jacinto Junior College product raised his batting average to its current team-best .349 mark.
While Crain was providing offensive consistency, junior infielder Brett Cooley supplied the power. Last weekend, Cooley launched home runs on consecutive nights against Tulane and followed that with a 2-for-4 performance with a double and triple against the Green Wave in the series finale.
UH (18-7) also displayed some speed on the basepaths as shown by seven stolen bases against the Green Wave in the series finale on Sunday. Outfielder Michael Bourn led the way with a career-best four steals against Tulane and now leads the team with 12 thefts in 15 attempts.
Fresno State comes into the game on the heels of an 11-game winning streak after sweeping at Western Athletic Conference foe Louisiana Tech last weekend. Casey McGehee leads the Bulldogs in all three Triple Crown categories with a .359 batting average, seven home runs and 33 RBIs.
Mike Hernandez is expected to start on the mound against the Cougars.
