University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Ready to Go at TCU This Weekend
3/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 27, 2003
FORT WORTH, Texas - Riding a season-best four-game winning streak, the University of Houston baseball team returns to action this weekend when it faces Conference USA rival TCU in a three-game series at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.
The series begins with 6:30 p.m. games on both Friday and Saturday before wrapping up at 1 p.m. 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 by logging onto www.UHcougars.com and c clicking on the "Gametracker" on the Daily Calendar at the bottom of the main page.
Although still early in the season, this weekend's C-USA schedule could go a long way in determining the league champion at the end of the year, as six of the league's top teams square off against one another. Besides the Cougars-TCU matchup, Tulane will visit Southern Mississippi, and the Bulls of South Florida will be invading Louisville this weekend.
Junior righthander Brad Sullivan (3-3, 1.98) will take the hill for the Cougars in game one of the series. This season, the Nederland, Texas, native has thrown to a 3-3 record with three straight wins entering this weekend's series.
In addition, he tops the Cougars with 67 strikeouts and is second on the squad with a 1.98 ERA. In his last five outings, Sullivan has displayed the form that made him the 2002 C-USA Pitcher of the Year and a consensus First-Team All-American. During that time, he has posted a 3-0 record with a minuscule 0.72 ERA, 47 strikeouts and only 19 hits allowed in 35.1 innings.
In his last start, Sullivan tossed a UH season-best 13 strikeouts while allowing only two runs and four hits in eight innings at C-USA rival Cincinnati.
Junior third baseman Hyung Cho continues to lead the team with a .374 batting average and brings season-best six-game hitting streak into this weekend's series. The Toronto, Canada, native is fresh of a 2-for-5 performance with two home runs and three RBIs at Sam Houston State on Tuesday.
Cho became the first player since Chris Snyder against Tulane on May 25, 2002, to blast two home runs in the one game.
However, Cho isn't the only Cougar swinging a hot bat. UH has recorded double-digit hits in each of its last six games, raising the team batting average 46 points in a short time.
Junior first baseman Thanos Papavasiliou continues to pace the Cougars with 15 RBIs, with Cho following close behind with 13 RBIs.
TCU (17-11, 5-1 C-USA) also brings a four-game winning streak into this weekend's series after taking a 4-3 win over Oklahoma on Tuesday. The Horned Frogs are currently tied with Southern Miss for the early league lead and swept Saint Louis in C-USA play last weekend.
Junior righthander Robbie Findlay (1-0, 1.98) is slated to start game one of the series Friday. In his last start, Findlay held Saint Louis to only four hits in seven shutout innings on the way to a win on March 21.
Freshman outfielder Jake Duncan leads TCU with a .368 batting average, while junior infielder Chris Neuman tops the Horned Frogs with nine home runs. Senior infielder Mike Settles paces the team with 28 RBIs.
This will be the second consecutive year that the two teams have met at Conference USA rivals but it will be the first encounter in Fort Worth, Texas, since 1995 when the two schools competed as Southwest Conference members.
The Cougars swept the Horned Frogs a year ago at Cougar Field. With the first win in the series, UH captured its third C-USA regular-season championship in the last four years.
UH owns a 46-32-2 all-time record against TCU, but the Horned Frogs have a 22-20-1 advantage in Fort Worth.
