University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Starts Conference USA Home Stretch against South Florida
5/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 2, 2002
HOUSTON, Texas - The University of Houston baseball team begins the homestretch of its 2002 Conference USA season this weekend as they play host to South Florida in a three-game series at Cougar Field.
The Cougars (33-12, 15-5) come into the series after a 5-2 win over Texas-San Antonio on Tuesday in UH's final non-conference home game of the year. UH posted 15 hits against the Roadrunners for the seventh straight game with double-digit hits.
Sophomore righthander Brad Sullivan takes the hill in game one of the series on Friday. In his last start, Sullivan did not have his best stuff at Saint Louis in the first game of that series. However, he had enough to hold the Billikens to only five hits and three runs with five strikeouts in a complete game victory over SLU for his team-leading eighth win.
With his strikeout total, Sullivan moved into third in school single-season history with 108 strikeouts and needs only 12 more strikeouts to set a new UH record.
This season, Sullivan has thrown to a perfect 8-0 record with 108 strikeouts and a 1.77 ERA in 81.1 innings to lead or tie for the lead among all C-USA pitchers.
Sophomore southpaw Austin Faught (1-2, 4.05) and sophomore righthander Gene Flores (2-2, 5.14) are scheduled to start games two and three of the series respectively.
Junior catcher Chris Snyder continues to lead the team with a .362 batting average and 48 RBIs and is second on the squad with 10 home runs, including a solo shot against Texas-San Antonio on Tuesday night in a 5-2 UH win. The Houston native ranks among the top C-USA individual leaders in seven offensive categories and ranks among the best in three defensive categories.
Junior Brett Cooley leads the Cougars with 13 home runs, the sixth highest total in school single-season history and is riding a UH-season-best 16-game hitting streak into the series.
Lefthander Ryan Gloger (3-2, 6.32) is scheduled to start for South Florida in game one. South Florida comes into the series with a 25-19 overall record and is 11-10 in C-USA play entering Thursday afternoon's game against Stetson.
Freshman third baseman Jeff Baisley leads the team with a .373 average and 49 RBIs, while Devin Ivany is tops with nine home runs.
The Cougars own a 12-6 advantage over South Florida in the all-time series, which began in 1997 and has been continued with both school as C-USA members. However, the Bulls can claim the most recent success after winning the 2001 season series in Tampa, Fla.
The two teams have alternated winning the last three regular-season series with USF winning the series in 1999 and 2001 and UH taking the 2000 series. However, UH is 5-1 against the Bulls at Cougar Field.
