University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Ready to Go at San Diego this Weekend
3/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 15, 2007
SAN DIEGO - The University of Houston baseball team heads to the West Coast this weekend to meet No. 22 San Diego in its final non-conference weekend series of the 2007 season.
The series begins at 5 p.m. (CDT) Friday with 3 p.m. (CDT) on both Saturday and Sunday at Cunningham Stadium.
Cougar Baseball games can be heard live on UHCougars.com with Nick Torina calling the play-by-play action and Pat Cauley providing color analysis. Fans also can follow live stats by clicking on the "Gametracker" link on the front page of UHCougars.com or on the "Schedule and Results" page off the Baseball main page.
Junior righthander Aaron Brown makes his sixth start of the season in the series opener Friday afternoon. This season, the League City native has assembled a 2-0 record with 26 strikeouts and a 4.20 ERA in 30.0 innings pitched.
His ERA, wins, strikeouts and innings pitched totals are the second best by any UH hurler this season. Brown also ranks among the C-USA Top Five individual leaders in strikeouts and innings pitched.
At 6-6, Brown is the tallest member of the 2007 Cougar team and ranks as the tallest player since Bryan Moore measured in at 6-8 on the 1999 squad.
Brown allowed only one run off four hits with six strikeouts in six innings to earn the win during the Cougars 20-1 win over Princeton in the middle game of a non-conference series on March 10.
Saturday's game will be Brown's first start but second appearance against San Diego. Brown collected the loss in the 2006 series opener on March 17 but was the no-luck loser after allowing three unearned runs off four hits with three strikeouts in 2.1 innings of relief.
Sophomore DH Jimmy Cesario continues to lead the Cougars with a .377 batting average, while sophomore catcher Luis Flores is tops with five home runs. Senior infielder Dustin Kingsbury, who has started 140 consecutive games entering this weekend's series, leads the team with 21 RBIs.
Thanks to a monster week at the plate, junior outfielder Bryan Tully became the only player in Conference USA to rank among the league's Top 10 individual leaders in all Triple Crown categories with a .364 batting average, three home runs and 16 RBIs.
For the second straight season and the third time in the last four seasons, the Cougars will meet San Diego on the baseball diamond. San Diego owns a 3-1 (.750) lead in the all-time series, which began in 2004.
The Toreros won each of the first three games of the series before the Cougars rebounded to take a 3-2 win in the finale on a non-conference series on March 19, 2006.
The two teams first met during the Aztec Invitational at PETCO Park on March 13, 2004, an 11-6 San Diego win.
In 2006, San Diego won the first two games of the weekend series at Cougar Field by 9-4 and 2-0 margins before the Cougars claimed a 3-2 win in the series finale.
This weekend's series marks the first time that the Cougars have faced the Toreros in California.
Sophomore southpaw Brian Matusz is scheduled to start the series opener on the mound for the Toreros. This season, Matusz has compiled a 3-1 record with 72 strikeouts and a 2.95 ERA in 42.2 innings.
Senior outfielder Shane Buschini leads USD with six home runs, while junior utility player Justin Snyder is tops with a .353 batting average. Senior catcher Jordan Abruzzo paces all Torero sluggers with 24 RBIs.
