University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Opens C-USA Series vs. Memphis on Friday
4/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 20, 2006
HOUSTON - Fresh off avenging an earlier loss to Texas A&M, the 19th-ranked University of Houston baseball team comes into this weekend's series against Conference USA rival Memphis as winners of 13 of their last 17 games.
The Cougars, who enjoyed a 9-6 win at Texas A&M on Tuesday night, will be looking to solidify their place at No. 2 in the latest C-USA standings or move higher depending upon the series between Southern Miss and current league leader Rice.
The series begins with 7 p.m., games on both Friday and Saturday before wrapping up at 1 p.m., Sunday at Cougar Field. 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.
Friday's game will be another Dollar Dog Night at the ballpark with hot dogs at the concession stands available for only $1.
On Saturday, all fans are encouraged to wear red to the ballpark as part of Red Alert Night.
Fans also should prepare for a busy day on the UH campus. In addition to the Cougars' 7 p.m., contest against Memphis, the Houston Dynamos will host a home soccer match at 7:30 p.m. at UH's own Robertson Stadium.
Due to the anticipated high attendance and need for parking at both events, the Athletics Department has designated parking lots 16C and 16D (directly across Cullen Blvd., beyond the right-field and centerfield fence of Cougar Field on both sides of Elgin St., lots 15A and 15 G (directly south and east of the Athletics/Alumni Center) and lot 15H (directly west of the John Hoff Tennis Courts off Elgin St.) for baseball fans.
These lots will be available at no charge for attendees of the baseball game.
The University of Houston Athletics Department would like to request that all fans planning to attend Saturday's game adjust their arrival time to well in advance of the start as traffic flow may be slower than usual.
While adequate parking has been made available for baseball fans, late-arriving fans may be forced to pay for parking in lots that have not been reserved for baseball attendance.
The recent power surge by the team continued at College Station, Texas, earlier in the week as the Cougars bashed three doubles, a triple and four home runs. However, UH also showed that it is more than capable of playing small ball when necessary, laying down a pair of sacrifice bunts while swiping a season-high six stolen bases.
The Cougars (25-15, 9-3 C-USA) broke into the national polls with a spot at No. 19 in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll and a No. 27 ranking in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll released Monday.
UH also improved to No. 20 in the latest edition of The Rosenblatt Report after a successful week and received 27 points - the 29th-highest total nationally - in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
It was the first time since June 2, 2003, that the Cougars were ranked in one of the major national polls.
Junior righthander Brad Lincoln will take the hill for the opener of the Memphis series on Friday. He enters the Memphis series on a career-best seven-game winning streak.
This season, Lincoln leads the Cougars with 98 strikeouts and only 20 walks in 81.0 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.
In his last start, Lincoln was the beneficiary of a productive offense during the Cougars' 24-7 win at No. 22 Southern Miss on April 14. He allowed only two runs off five hits with six strikeouts in six innings of work as the Cougars rolled to a 22-2 lead during his stint. However, it was the first time this season that he did not record at least seven strikeouts in a game.
In addition, he finished the night 1-for-4 with a run and RBI at the plate against the Golden Eagles.
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 .288 batting average with team highs of 11 home runs and 38 RBIs.
Friday's game will be Lincoln's second career start against the Tigers. In addition to his pitching numbers, Lincoln also has compiled a .533 batting average (8-for-15) with a home run, two doubles and six RBIs in three games at the plate during his career.
Although he went 0-for-4 at Texas A&M on Tuesday, senior outfielder Matt Weston remains one of the Cougars' hottest hitters entering this weekend's series against C-USA rival Memphis. Over his last nine games, Weston is batting .459 (17-for-37) with 17 runs scored, seven home runs, 12 extra-base hits, 19 RBIs and a 1.189 slugging percentage.
As a result, he has raised his batting average 98 points to its current .312 mark. Weston also has increased his slugging percentage 374 points to .624.
He was named both a Collegiate Baseball Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week and C-USA Hitter of the Week on April 10 and picked up another league honor on April 17. Weston also 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 at McNeese State on April 18.
While he has not received any awards for his recent play, senior infielder Isa Garcia has been an offensive force at the plate. During his last five games, the Houston native is batting a team-best .700 (14-for-20) with eight runs, seven RBIs and a robust .900 slugging percentage.
Garcia has hit safely with at least one RBI in each game during that span and has recorded four multi-hit games, including back-to-back four-hit performances in the final two games of the series at No. 22 Southern Miss. With those numbers, he recently jumped into the team lead with a .343 batting average, 31 runs scored and 13 stolen bases.
That kind of success in nothing new for Garcia who has led the last two teams for which he has played in batting average (San Jacinto Junior College, 2004; Sam Houston State, 2005)
For the 10th consecutive season, the Cougars will face Memphis on the baseball diamond. The Cougars boast of a 23-5 (.821) lead in the all-time series, which began in 1997 and has been played three times every year since.
The Cougars have won five of the last six games against Memphis after the Tigers won the season series in 2003. That was the first and only series victory for Memphis in the history between the two teams.
The Cougars won the 2005 regular-season series after claiming an 11-1 win in the finale in Memphis. UH enjoyed a 9-6 win in the series opener before Memphis answered with a 9-6 win in the middle game.
The Cougars are a perfect 12-0 on their home field against the Tigers. And those games have not been close with UH winning by an average of nearly seven runs per game.
Memphis (21-18, 6-6 C-USA) comes into the game after dropping a pair of non-conference games to No. 15 Mississippi State earlier this week. Those losses extended the Tigers' losing streak to five games heading into the series against the Cougars.
Junior infielder Adam Amar leads the Tigers and ranks among the C-USA individual leaders with a .403 batting average and has posted a team-best 39 RBIs. Junior Joey Lieberman tops the team with 10 home runs.
Junior righthander Philip Utley is scheduled to start on the mound for the Tigers in the series opener. This season, Utley has compiled a 3-2 record with 12 strikeouts and a 7.71 ERA in 30.1 innings of work.
