University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Starts Practice Tuesday Morning at Cougar Field
1/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 8, 2007
HOUSTON - The University of Houston Baseball team opens the 2007 season Tuesday morning with the start of practice at Cougar Field.
With classes not starting until Jan. 16, the Cougars will hold two-a-day practices through the rest of this week. On Tuesday, the pitchers will throw bullpen sessions in the morning with the position players working out in the weight room before trading assignments in the afternoon.
The Cougars, who were ranked No. 33 by Collegiate Baseball in that magazine's annual preseason poll, will work out as a team around 3 p.m., Tuesday at Cougar Field.
All Cougar Baseball practices are open to the public, which is invited to attend.
With six position starters and two weekend starting pitchers returning in 2007, head coach Rayner Noble said he was looking forward to the start of practice on Tuesday and the team's chances this season.
"We return some good experience ... in the field, and we have some good experience on the mound. That makes us worthy to contend in this league," Noble said. "We are going to have to have some premier performances like we did last season. We have the talent; it is just a matter of guys having some good years."
Although Noble enters his 13th season at the helm of the Cougar Baseball program, the beginning of each season is always an exciting time, and the 2007 campaign is shaping up to be no different.
"It's basically the same. You have the same sensation at the beginning of each year. Expectations are high," Noble said. "If it was any different, I would probably need to get out of it. I feel good about it. We have a chance to be pretty good."
The Cougars return 15 letterwinners from a year ago off a team that posted a 39-22 overall record, finished second in a competitive Conference USA and advanced to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2003.
Junior outfielder Bryan Tully returns as the team's leading hitter after batting .322 with six home runs and 33 RBIs. Senior outfielder Jake Stewart was a close third on the team with a .321 average and added seven home runs and 33 RBIs, mostly from the leadoff spot in the Cougar lineup.
Stewart, a native of Santa Fe, also swiped 13 bases to rank second on the team in that category.
Senior infielder Dustin Kingsbury, a member of the 2005 C-USA All-Tournament Team, batted .290 with five home runs, 31 RBIs and a team-best 14 RBIs and has started each of the last 120 games entering the 2007 season opener.
Sophomore catcher Luis Flores posted a .288 batting average with 30 RBIs and was third on the team with eight home runs during his first collegiate season.
Fans also can expect to see plenty of Flores on the mound, where the righthander compiled a 6-3 record with 67 strikeouts and a 3.00 ERA in 87.0 innings of work.
With impressive numbers like that, it was little surprise that Flores would be honored as a Freshman First-Team All-American by two national media outlets.
Junior righthander Ricky Hargrove posted an 8-6 record with 82 strikeouts and a 3.31 ERA in 100.2 innings of work and should be a fixture near the top of the Cougars' weekend pitching rotation.
The Katy native continued his trade over the summer in the prestigious Cape Cod League, where he was named to the All-Star Game.
The Cougars open the 2007 season at 2 p.m., Feb. 6 when they play host to Stephen F. Austin at the friendly confines of Cougar Field. From there, the team will compete at the Houston College Classic for the seventh straight season.
There, the Cougars will square off against three nationally ranked opponents in No. 21 Baylor (7 p.m., Feb. 9), No. 49 Texas A&M (3:30 p.m., Feb. 10) and No. 14 Arizona State (11 a.m., Feb. 11).
