University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Set to Meet Memphis this Weekend
5/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 10, 2007
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Houston Baseball team hits the road to meet Memphis this weekend during its final Conference USA road series of the campaign.
The series begins at 6:30 pm., Friday, and continues at 2 p.m., Saturday, before wrapping up at 1 p.m., Sunday. Cougar Baseball games can be heard live on UHCougars.com. To access the free broadcast, fans should click on the "Schedules and Results" link on the baseball main page. From there, fans can click on the "Audio Broadcasts" link, which will bring up the 2007 radio schedule.
Fans also can follow live stats via the Internet by clicking the "Gametracker" link on the UH front page or on the Cougar Baseball schedule page. Tuesday's game will not be broadcast on the Internet at UHCougars.com.
The Cougars come into the series well rested after an unexpected cancellation of their planned midweek game. UH had planned to meet Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday at Cougar Field as a makeup game from March 13 when rain forced a postponement.
However, the Cajuns were unable to play the game on the makeup date due to their final examinations schedules.
The Cougars look to return to their winning ways after being swept by C-USA rival East Carolina last weekend. It was the first time that UH was swept at home as a member of Conference USA and the first conference sweep since Texas won three straight Southwest Conference games at Cougar Field on April 6-7, 1996.
Junior righthander Aaron Brown makes his 13th start of the season when he toes the rubber against Conference USA rival Memphis during the series opener Friday. This season, the League City native has posted a 6-4 record with 49 strikeouts and a 4.38 ERA in 74.0 innings.
He leads the Cougars in innings pitched, is tied for the team lead in wins and ranks second among all Cougar hurlers in ERA, strikeouts and opposing batting average (.251). Brown was named the C-USA Pitcher of the Week on April 23 after striking out seven with only five hits allowed in seven shutout innings at No.23 Tulane during the series opener on April 20.
In his last start, Brown lost for the second straight game after allowing three runs (two earned) off five hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts during the series opener at C-USA rival East Carolina on May 5.
Friday's game will be Brown's fourth appearance but first career start against the Tigers. During that time, he has posted seven strikeouts and a 5.06 ERA in 5.1 innings of relief.
In his most recent outing against the Tigers, he allowed two runs off two hits and five walks with five strikeouts in 3.2 innings of relief. However, he did not collect a decision as the Cougars rallied to take an 8-7 win in 16 innings during the finale of the series at Cougar Field on April 23, 2006.
Sophomore outfielder Jimmy Cesario continues to lead the Cougars and rank among the C-USA individual leaders with a .372 batting average. Sophomore catcher Luis Flores is tops with nine home runs, while senior third baseman Dustin Kingsbury - who has started each of the last 167 games - leads all Cougar sluggers with 41 RBIs.
This weekend marks the 11th consecutive season that the Cougars will meet Memphis on the baseball diamond. The Cougars own a 26-5 lead in the all-time series which began in 1997 when UH joined Conference USA and has been played at least three times every year since.
The Cougars are 9-1 in C-USA series against the Tigers with sweeps coming in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006. Memphis' lone series win came in 2003 at Nat Buring Stadium after the Tigers won the first and last games of that series.
The Cougars swept the regular-season series in Houston but had to endure a pair of nail-biters on April 21-23, 2006. UH won the first game 3-2 before taking a 7-2 win in the middle game.
In the series finale, Memphis scored two runs in the ninth inning to force extra frames. The Tigers appeared to grab the momentum with two runs in the top of the 15th, but UH answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the frame on Bryan Tully's two-out, two run double. The Cougars then earned the sweep in the bottom of the 16th after Matt Weston beat out a double play to allow Travis Cougot to score from third base.
The Cougars are 10-5 against the Tigers in Tennessee after winning two of three games during the 2005 regular-season series. However, the two teams have split the last six games in Memphis.
In addition, the Cougars are 4-1 (.800) in C-USA series against the Tigers at Nat Buring Stadium with a road sweep coming in 2001. Memphis won the 2003 regular-season series on its home field after winning the first and last games.
The Tigers (31-18, 11-7 C-USA) come into this weekend's series after winning a pair of non-conference games against Arkansas State and bring a four-game winning streak into Friday's contest.
Senior righthander Ben Grisham is scheduled to start the series opener for Memphis. This season, Grisham has compiled a 3-1 record with 29 strikeouts and a team-best 4.44 ERA in 48.2 innings of work.
Michael Murray leads Memphis with a .385 batting average while Joey Lieberman is tops with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs. However, Bill Moss second in the later two categories with 11 home runs and 44 RBIs.
