University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Meets Conference USA Rival Cincinnati in Three-Game Series
4/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2002
HOUSTON, Texas - The University of Houston baseball team looks to remain atop the Conference USA standings this weekend as it plays host to league rival Cincinnati in a three-game series, starting at 7 p.m. Friday at Cougar Field.
The series continues with another 7 p.m. game Saturday and wraps up at noon Sunday. Sunday's game time is an hour earlier than UH's regular starting time on that day due to traveling arrangements for Cincinnati. All three games can be heard live on KGBC Radio 1540 AM.
UH looks to extend its current 25-game home winning streak in C-USA play dating back to the 2000 season against the Bearcats, who were the last team to savor victory at Cougar Field. UC walked away with a 6-4 win in the middle game of a series on April 15, 2000.
The Cougars (27-11, 11-4 C-USA), who are tied with TCU in C-USA play, enter the series on the heels of a disappointing 7-5 loss to No. 3 Rice on Tuesday in the finale of the 2002 Silver Glove Series. UH carried a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning against the Owls before Rice stormed back with three runs to take the win.
The loss snapped UH's five-game winning streak.
Sophomore righthander Brad Sullivan makes his 11th appearance of the year for the Cougars on the mound Friday night. This season, Sullivan has tallied a perfect 6-0 record with 91 strikeouts and a 1.68 ERA in only 64.1 innings.
In his last outing, the Nederland, Texas, native dominated Memphis, striking out a school single-game record 16 Tiger batters in only seven innings. For his impressive work, he was honored as both the C-USA and Collegiate Baseball National Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season.
In addition, Sullivan ranks among the national individual leaders in both wins and strikeouts per nine innings.
Sophomore southpaw Danny Zell (4-0, 2.01) is expected to start the middle game of the series Saturday with Sunday's starter still to be determined.
Junior utility star Jesse Crain leads the team with a .340 batting average and saw that number climb after batting 2-for-3 with a double against the Owls. The Boulder, Colo., native is riding a seven-game hitting streak into the series and has now posted two 8-game and two 7-game streaks this season while hitting safely in all but six games.
Junior Brett Cooley remains atop the team leaderboard with 10 home runs and 32 RBIs with junior Chris Snyder adding 32 RBIs as well. Cooley extended his hitting streak to a career-best nine games against Rice, while Snyder batted 2-for-5 with a run, two doubles and two RBIs against the Owls.
Cincinnati (16-19-1, 4-10-1) enters the series after taking an 11-7 win over Ohio on Tuesday. In that game, Jake Smith and Erik Eitel each rapped out two hits for the Bearcats who recorded 16 hits and five home runs in the game.
Brad Schutz leads the team with a .369 batting average, while Aaron Moll is tops with nine home runs and 45 RBIs.
Freshman righthander Justin Minges is scheduled to start game one of the series for Cincinnati. This season, Minges has recorded a 1-0 record with 19 strikeouts and a 4.00 ERA in 27.0 innings.
Chad Pennington (5-3, 4.68) and B.J. Borsa (4-5, 3.25) will start games two and three of the series, respectively, for Cincinnati.
