University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Announces 2007 Schedule
1/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 17, 2007
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HOUSTON - The University of Houston Baseball program will square off against some of the nation's best teams this season during the Cougars' 2007 schedule, head coach Rayner Noble announced Wednesday.
The Cougars, who are ranked No. 33 in Collegiate Baseball magazine's preseason Top 40 poll, are scheduled to play 18 games against eight teams ranked in at least one national preseason poll. In addition to crosstown and Conference USA rival and No.1 Rice, the Cougars also meet No. 15 Tulane, No. 21 Baylor, No. 38 UC Irvine, No. 39 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 46 San Diego and No. 49 Texas A&M.
The Cougars open their 2007 season on Feb. 6 when they play host to Stephen F. Austin at Cougar Field, the first of 26 home contests.
On the non-conference side, UH will meet Sam Houston State (Feb. 13), McNeese State (Feb. 20), Lamar (March 6), and No. 39 Louisiana-Lafayette (March 13) in midweek games with No. 38 UC Irvine (Feb. 16-18), Northwestern State (March 2-4) and Princeton (March 9-11) coming in for non-conference weekend series.
When UH enters C-USA play, UAB (April 6-8), crosstown rival and top-ranked Rice (April 13-15), East Carolina (May 4-6) and Southern Miss (May 17-19) are slated to make weekend appearances at Cougar Field.
The Cougars always play well in front of the hometown fans, setting a facility record with an .846 winning percentage (22-4 record) in 2006.
For the first time since 2003, the Cougars will compete in two tournaments during the regular season.
The Cougars will play in one of the nation's premier collegiate tournaments when it competes at the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park, home of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros. This marks the seventh consecutive season that the Cougars will compete at the Houston College Classic.
UH will meet No. 21 Baylor (Feb. 9), No. 49 Texas A&M (Feb. 10) and No. 14 Arizona State (Feb. 11) at that tournament.
In addition to that, the Cougars will play at the Southwest Diamond Classic on Feb. 22-24 at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, Texas. There, UH will square off against Texas-San Antonio (Feb. 22), host Dallas Baptist (Feb. 23) and Texas-Arlington (Feb. 24).
The Cougars will face another formidable road schedule in 2007, starting with the team's annual journey to the West. UH will meet San Diego on March 16-18, the ninth straight year that the Cougars have traveled west during the regular season
UH also travels to meet Lamar (March 27), No. 21 Baylor (April 3), Stephen F. Austin (April 10), No. 49 Texas A&M (April 17), McNeese State (May 1) and Sam Houston State (May 15) in midweek games.
In C-USA action, the Cougars face UCF (March 23-25), No. 15 Tulane (April 20-22), Marshall (April 27-29) and Memphis (May 11-13) in unfriendly environments.
The Top Eight teams from Conference USA will head to Tulane's Turchin Stadium on May 23-27 for the annual C-USA Tournament. The winner of the league's annual postseason event earns its automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals, which begin June 1.
A year ago, Conference USA emerged as the No. 4 league in college baseball. As teams continue to grow and improve, Noble said he sees the league moving even higher in the RPI rankings.
"We are going to see a major jump in several programs," Noble said. "When they do that, that is what is going to make this league jump ahead of some of the other conferences. When they do that, we have a chance to jump into the No. 3 hole nationally."
