University of Houston Athletics
Baseball to Compete at Cincinnati this Weekend
3/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 20, 2003
AMELIA, Ohio - The University of Houston baseball team looks to return to its winning ways this weekend when it faces Cincinnati in a three-game Conference USA series in Ohio.
Due to ongoing renovations to the Bearcats' home field, the series has been moved to Midland Field in Amelia, Ohio. The series begins with a 1 p.m. (CST) showdown Friday and continues at Noon (CST) Saturday before wrapping up at 10 a.m. (CST) Sunday.
Fans can hear the entire series live at KAXF 88.3 FM or over the Internet at www.UHcougars.com. Fans can also catch live stats on "Gametracker" by logging onto Cincinnati's web site at www.UCBearcats.com.
Junior righthander Brad Sullivan (2-3, 1.93) is expected to take the hill for the Cougars in game one of the series. After dropping his first three starts to open the season, Sullivan has been nearly untouchable. In his last four outings, Sullivan has recorded a 2-0 record with a minuscule 0.33 ERA, 34 strikeouts and only 15 hits allowed in 27.1 innings.
In his last start, Sullivan tossed a UH season-best 12 strikeouts in 10.0 shutout innings but did not pick up a decision as the Cougars fell 1-0 in 12 innings.
The Cougars (8-13, 1-2 C-USA) come into the series on the heels of a 7-6 loss in 11 innings to crosstown rival and top-ranked Rice on Wednesday in Game Three of the Silver Glove Series at Cougar Field.
Despite the loss, the Cougar offense continued to show promising signs by rapping out 13 hits, the second straight game that UH posted double-digit hits. Against the Owls, all but one Cougar starter recorded at least one hit in the game.
Junior third baseman Hyung Cho leads the team with a .346 batting average but is listed as questionable for this weekend. The Toronto, Canada, native sat out Tuesday's game against Rice after suffering a concussion during practice earlier in the week.
Junior first baseman Thanos Papavasiliou leads the team with 12 RBIs after going 2-for-6 with a run and a pair of RBIs against Rice.
This will be the seventh consecutive year that the Cougars meet Cincinnati in a C-USA series. A year ago, UH took two of three from the Bearcats with a pair of blowout wins. However, UC rallied in the second game to take an 11-10 win in 12 innings. In fact, UC has prevent a UH series sweep in each of the last three seasons.
UH brings an 18-5 all-time mark against the Bearcats into this weekend's series. In addition, the Cougars are 8-1 all-time on UC's home field.
The series began with a three-game series in Houston in 1958 with the Bearcats winning two of three from UH. It continued it 1960 before lying dormant until 1997 when both teams squared off as C-USA members.
Cincinnati comes into the series on the heels of a C-USA series-opening loss at UAB last weekend. Righthander Kyle Markle (0-5, 4.85) is expected to start the first game of the series for the Bearcats.
