University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Opens C-USA Series Friday at #22 Southern Miss
4/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 13, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The University of Houston baseball team continues its season-long, five-game road swing when it meets Conference USA rival and 22nd-ranked Southern Miss this weekend at Hill Denson Field/Pete Taylor Park.
The series begins at 6:30 p.m., Friday, continues at 4 p.m., Saturday and wraps up at 1 p.m., Sunday. All three games can be heard live over the Internet at www.UHCougars.com with former UH letterwinners Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling all the action. Fans also can follow play-by-play action by clicking on the "Live Stats" link on the schedule at www.UHCougars.com.
The Cougars entered their name among the nation's best this week, coming in at No. 25 in the latest national poll from The Rosenblatt Report. UH also received votes in both the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25 and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association polls.
UH (22-14, 7-2 C-USA) enters the series on the heels of a dominating 11-1 win at McNeese State on Tuesday. In that game, all but one starter recorded at least one hit with a season-high 19 hits rapped out against the Cowboys.
Fresh off being named a Collegiate Baseball Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, senior outfielder Matt Weston made his case for the honor this week with a solid performance at McNeese State.
Weston, who became the first position player in UH history to win a national weekly award, became only the fourth player in school history to hit for the cycle, finishing the night 4-for-5 with three runs and a career-best five RBIs against the Cowboys.
Over his last five games, Weston has jump-started the Cougar offense. During that time, he has batted .556 (10-for-18) with nine runs, five home runs, eight extra-base hits, 12 RBIs and a sparkling 1.611 slugging percentage.
As a result, he has raised his batting average 83 points to its current .297 mark. Weston also has increased his slugging percentage more than 330 points to .581.
Junior righthander Brad Lincoln will take the hill for the opener of the Southern Miss series on Friday. He has recorded at least seven strikeouts in each of his first 10 starts and enters the USM series on a career-best six-game winning streak.
This season, Lincoln leads the Cougars with 92 strikeouts and only 18 walks in 75.0 innings of work. The Clute, Texas, native is poised to join Brad Sullivan (2002-03) and Shane Nance (1997, 1999) as the only pitchers in school history to record 100+ strikeouts in two seasons during his collegiate career.
With nine strikeouts in the opener of the San Diego series on March 17, Lincoln recorded the 200th strikeout of his career, becoming only the seventh player in school history to accomplish that feat.
Earlier this season, Lincoln saw his career-best 13.2 consecutive scoreless innings streak snapped in the third inning of the second game of the Arizona State series on Feb. 18.
Combined with his offensive numbers during the first week of the season, Lincoln was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Houston College Classic. In addition, he was recognized as the C-USA Co-Pitcher of the Week for Feb. 13. He also was named C-USA Pitcher of the Week for March 6 and March 27.
Besides his pitching prowess, Lincoln also is a regular in the heart of the Cougar lineup, playing DH or at first base on the days he does not pitch. This season, he has compiled a .286 batting average with team highs of nine home runs and 32 RBIs.
In his last start, Lincoln helped set the tone for the entire series with an impressive performance against No. 18 Tulane. He scattered three runs (two earned) off four hits with nine strikeouts in 8.1 innings of work to pick up the win
In addition to his pitching numbers, Lincoln also has compiled a .455 batting average (5-for-11) with a home run and four RBIs in five games against Southern Miss at the plate during his career.
Junior infielder Dustin Kingsbury leads the Cougars with a .326 batting average and is tied with senior infielder Isa Garcia for the team lead with nine stolen bases.
For the 10th consecutive season, the Cougars will face Southern Miss on the baseball diamond. The Cougars own a 20-12 (.625) lead in the all-time series, which began in 1990 but has been played at least three times every year since 1997, the year that both teams joined Conference USA.
However, USM can boast of the most recent success. The Golden Eagles have won three of the last four games against the Cougars and won the regular-season series during each of the last three seasons.
A year ago, the Golden Eagles ventured into Cougar Field and walked away with the series victory on May 19-21. After USM claimed a 10-5 run in the series opener, the Cougars split the series with a 11-7 victory in the second game. USM then took an 11-7 win in the series finale for their second straight C-USA series victory at Cougar Field.
The Cougars have enjoyed tremendous success at Hill Denson Field/Pete Taylor Park, posting a 9-3 all-time record in games played at USM's home facility. The Golden Eagles won the last series between these two teams in Hattiesburg, winning the first and last games of the 2004 regular-season series.
That series win snapped a three-series winning streak for the Cougars, who won eight of their first nine games at Hill Denson Field/Pete Taylor Park to open the all-time series.
USM (25-10, 4-2 C-USA), comes into this weekend's series as winners of four of its last five games, including a 12-2 thumping of Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday.
Righthander Scott Massey is scheduled to take the hill for the Golden Eagles in Friday's opener. This season, Massey has posted a 5-1 record with 29 strikeouts and a 3.61 ERA in 52. 1innings.
Freshman infielder Brian Dozier leads the USM offense with a .379 batting average, while senior infielder Marc Maddox is tops with 10 home runs and 38 RBIs.
