University of Houston Athletics
Baseball to Meet Cincinnati this Weekend at Cougar Field
4/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 22, 2004
HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team continue its Conference USA schedule as its plays host to Cincinnati at Cougar Field this weekend - and the team looks to bring its hot bats into the series.
The series begins with 7 p.m. games on both Friday and Saturday before wrapping up at noon, Sunday.
All three games can be heard live over the Internet at www.UHCougars.com with Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling the action. Fans can follow live stats of all three games at www.UHCougars.com by clicking on the Gametracker link on the bottom of the main page.
Friday's game also will be available on 88.3 FM KAXF.
UH enters the weekend after a dominating 16-8 win at Texas-San Antonio on Tuesday. In that game, the Cougars pounded out a season-high 22 hits with nine of those going for extra bases. It marked the third consecutive game that UH rapped out at least 16 hits, dating back to the final two games of last weekend's series at Saint Louis.
Senior infielder Cole Bruce leads the Cougars with a .347 batting average, while junior Stuart Musslewhite will put his career- and UH-season-best 12-game hitting streak on the line against the Bearcats.
Junior catcher/outfielder Rob Johnson comes into the series as the team's hottest hitter after blasting two home runs to go with four hits and a career-best five RBIs in the Cougars' win at UTSA. The Butte, Mon., native has also added 11 stolen bases to tie with sophomore outfielder Travis Tully for team-high honors.
The Cougars begin the series tied for fourth in the latest C-USA standings and will need to perform well if they hope to move higher. UH fans hope that history will be an indication of how things will go for the Cougars, who have lost only five games to UC.
Senior righthander Matt Varner makes his eight start of the season when he takes the hill in the series opener. This season, the West Columbia, Texas, native is tied for the team lead with four wins and has added 37 strikeouts and a 4.42 ERA in 53.0 innings of work.
In his last start, Varner allowed four runs off seven hits with five strikeouts and four walks in 5.1 innings at Saint Louis in the series opener. However, he collected the loss against the Billikens and saw his personal-best two-game winning streak come to an end.
This will be the first time that Varner has faced Cincinnati.
For the eighth consecutive year, the Cougars will meet Cincinnati on the baseball diamond. The Cougars own a 21-5 record in the all-time series, which began in 1958 but has been played at least once every year since 1997 when both teams began competing in Conference USA.
The Cougars enter this weekend's series on a four-game winning streak after sweeping the 2003 regular-season series at Cincinnati and have won seven of their last eight meetings. And those seven wins have not really been close with UH winning by an average of 7.4 runs per game.
The Cougars have posted a 9-4 all-time record against the Bearcats at the friendly confines of Cougar Field. UH has won two of three games during each of the Bearcats' last two visits to Cougar Field in 2000 and 2002.
Cincinnati (8-28, 2-13 C-USA) comes into the series after taking a 13-4 win over Ohio on Tuesday. That win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Bearcats.
Senior catcher Steve Pickerell leads the Bearcats with a .408 batting average and nine home runs, while sophomore infielder Drew Saylor is tops with 34 RBIs.
Righthander Chase Lampl is expected to get the start for the Bearcats on the mound in Game One. This season, he has posted an 0-2 record with 23 strikeouts and an 8.49 ERA in 29.2 innings of work.
