University of Houston Athletics
Baseball to Meet Louisville in Weekend Series
5/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 13, 2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Houston wraps up its 2004 regular-season road schedule this weekend as it meets Louisville in a three-game series at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Ky.
The series begins at 5 p.m. (CDT) Friday and continues with noon (CDT) games on both Saturday and Sunday. All three games can be heard live on KAXF 88.3 FM or over the Internet at www.UHcougars.com with Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling the action.
Fans also can follow the action through live stats by clicking on the Gametracker link at the bottom of the main page at www.UHCougars.com.
Friday's opener will be the first action for the Cougars in a week. UH's scheduled game against No. 4 Rice in Game Five of the annual Silver Glove Series at Reckling Park, scheduled for Wednesday, was rained out and will not be made up.
Senior righthander Matt Varner makes his team-leading 11th start in the series opener Friday. This season, the West Columbia, Texas, native has compiled a 6-3 record with 58 strikeouts and a 4.07 ERA in 73.0 innings of work.
In his last start, Varner allowed a first-inning run before recording an out and then held Memphis scoreless over the next seven innings on May 7. He struck out a career- and UH season-high 10 batters while walking just three.
For that impressive performance, he was honored as the C-USA Pitcher of the Week on Monday. Varner joined senior righthander Brett Cooley as the only Cougar hurlers to win the league's weekly accolade in 2004.
Sophomore utility player Kevin Roberts leads the Cougars with a .364 batting average, while junior catcher/outfielder Rob Johnson is tops with 34 RBIs. Senior third baseman Nick Bott paces the team with eight home runs and has blasted three of the team's last four bombs.
For the seventh time in the last eight years, the Cougars will meet Louisville on the baseball diamond. UH owns a 14-6 all-time record in the series, which began in 1997 when both teams began play as C-USA members.
A year ago, the Cougars won the regular-season series by taking a 9-7 win in the series finale at Cougar Field. UH's win in that series opener snapped a three-game losing skid against the Cardinals who won the final two games in the 2001 regular-season series and then knocked UH into the losers' bracket at the C-USA Tournament.
The Cougars are 6-3 against Louisville in the Bluegrass State. However, the Cardinals can boast of the most recent success there after winning the final two games of the 2001 regular-season series.
Louisville enters this weekend with a 22-26 record overall and is 9-15 in C-USA play. With their current league record, the Cardinals would not qualify for the 2004 C-USA Tournament, to be held May 26-30 at Cougar Field.
Senior outfielder Mark Jurich is Louisville's Triple Crown leader with a .363 batting average, 17 home runs and 54 RBIs.
