University of Houston Athletics
Baseball to Play at Sam Houston State on Tuesday
5/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 14, 2007
HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team hits the road for the last time during the regular season when it heads north on Interstate 45 to meet area-rival Sam Houston State at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, at Don Sanders Stadium.
For the second time in a three-day span, the Cougars will look to a pitcher making his first career start, but the team hopes the result will be the same. The Cougars come into Tuesday's road game after taking a 10-5 win at Conference USA rival Memphis on Sunday during that series finale. In that game, junior righthander Bryan Tully -- who has been a regular in right field in 2007 - made his first career start and gave UH its best performance by a starting pitcher in the entire series.
Tully allowed four runs off seven hits with a strikeout in six innings to collect the win and improve to 2-1.
Junior righthander Bryan Pounds will make his first pitching start and only his third career pitching appearance when the Cougars face Sam Houston State on Tuesday. This season, Pounds has compiled a 10.80 ERA with a strikeout in 1.2 innings during two previous outings.
However, the Houston native has been a regular in the Cougar infield during the 2007 season, seeing time at second base, third base and shortstop. In 49 games, he has recorded six doubles, two home runs, 29 walks and 27 RBIs. In addition, he leads all Cougar defenders and ranks among the C-USA individual leaders with 143 assists from the field.
In his last game, Pounds held Memphis to only one hit in the eighth inning during the middle game of that series on May 12.
Tuesday's game will be Pounds' first career appearance against the Bearkats from the mound. However, he has started three games in the Cougar infield during his career against the Bearkats. In those games, he has posted a .545 (6-for-11) batting average with two runs, two doubles and five RBIs.
He also has played errorless in the field in 13 total chances with seven assists against the Bearkats
Cougar Baseball games can be heard live on UHCougars.com with former UH letterwinner Nick Torina calling the play-by-play action and Pat Cauley providing color analysis. 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.
Sophomore outfielder Jimmy Cesario continues to lead the Cougars and rank among the top C-USA individual leaders with a .364 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 170 games - paces all UH sluggers with 46 RBIs.
For the sixth consecutive season, the Cougars will meet Sam Houston State on the baseball diamond. Sam Houston State owns a 71-70 (.504) lead in the all-time series, which began in 1947 and was played at least once every year from 1984 to 2000.
However, the Cougars can boast of the most recent success and bring a 10-game winning streak against the Bearkats into Tuesday's game. UH has not lost to SHSU since a 7-5 setback on March 10, 1999, in Huntsville and enjoyed a 16-9 win over the Bearkats on Feb. 13 at Cougar Field.
Sam Houston State is one of the Cougars' most regular opponents. Tuesday's game marks the 141st meeting between the two teams, tying Rice for the third-longest series in UH history. Only Texas A&M (156 games) and Baylor (143) have longer rivalries with UH than the Bearkats.
With a win Tuesday, the Cougars will even the all-time series against the Bearkats at 71-71. If that happens, it will be the first time since 1956 that the Cougars could claim to have a non-losing record against Sam Houston State.
In 1956, the Cougars won the first two games of the series to even the all-time record at 10-10. But the Bearkats won the next three games and have never been tied with or trailed the Cougars since that time.
After dropping the first eight games of the series from 1947 to 1950, the Cougars have never held a winning record against SHSU in their program's history.
The Cougars have posted a 23-27 (.460) all-time record against the Bearkats in Huntsville. However, UH enters Tuesday's game on a three-game, road winning streak against SHSU.
Sam Houston State (33-19, 17-20 SLC) comes into the game after sweeping Southland Conference rival Southeastern Louisiana at home last weekend and have won their last six games.
Junior outfielder Keith Stein leads the Bearkats with a .407 average, while junior outfielder Bobby Verbick is tops with 12 home runs and 67 RBIs.
SHSU head coach Mark Johnson had not announced his probable pitching starter as of press time.
-- UHCougars.com --
