University of Houston Athletics
Baseball To Play Host to East Carolina This Weekend
5/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 4, 2007
The University of Houston baseball team finally returns to the friendly confines of Cougar Field this weekend when it plays host to Conference USA rival East Carolina in a pivotal three-game series.
The Cougars come into this weekend's series second in the latest C-USA standings. However, UH saw its lead over the rest of the pack dwindle to only one game after dropping two of three at Marshall last weekend.
Fortunately, the Cougars returned to their winning ways with a 5-4 non-conference win at McNeese State on Tuesday night. Senior third baseman Dustin Kingsbury smashed a one-out, two-run double in the top of the ninth to break a tie, and sophomore righthander Chris Wright made that hold up as the Cougars swept the regular-season series against the Cowboys.
The Cougars look to be successful this weekend to improve their place in the C-USA standings and increase their NCAA postseason chances. East Carolina enters this weekend's series at No. 19 in the latest RPI rankings by BoydsWorld.com.
The series begins with 7 p.m. games on both Friday and Saturday before wrapping up at noon, Sunday. Cougar Baseball games can be heard live on UHCougars.com with former UH letterwinners Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling all the action. The pregame show is slated to begin about 15 minutes before first pitch.
Fans always 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.
In addition, Friday's series opener will be televised live on CSTV, the third of four regular-season Cougar Baseball games to be televised in 2007. The Cougars already enjoyed wins on CSTV with a 7-0 victory at No. 23 Tulane on April 20 and a 5-2 decision over No. 5 Rice at Cougar Field.
CSTV also will televise the series opener against C-USA rival Southern Miss at 7 p.m., May 17 from Cougar Field.
This marks the third consecutive season and the eighth time in the last nine seasons that the Cougars will play at least one game in front of a national television audience. With their recent win over the Green Wave, the Cougars improved to 16-17 (.485) all-time in televised games.
Junior righthander Aaron Brown makes his 12th start of the season when he toes the rubber against Conference USA rival East Carolina during the series opener. This season, the League City native has posted a 6-3 record with 47 strikeouts and a 4.57 ERA in 67.0 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 (.256). Brown was named the C-USA Pitcher of the Week for 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 struggled at C-USA rival Marshall during the series opener on April 27, allowing six runs off seven hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts in 2.1 innings.
Friday's game will be Brown's second career appearance but first start against the Pirates. In his only previous outing, he allowed two runs off three hits in 0.1 innings of relief on March 31, 2006, in the opener of a C-USA series in Greenville, N.C. However, he picked up a hold against the Pirates in a 4-3 Cougar win.
Sophomore outfielder Jimmy Cesario continues to lead both C-USA and the Cougar offense with a .378 batting average. Senior third baseman Dustin Kingsbury - who has started each of the last 164 games in the UH infield - leads the Cougars with 38 RBIs, while sophomore catcher Luis Flores has launched a team-high nine home runs. For the sixth consecutive season, the Cougars will face East Carolina on the baseball diamond. East Carolina owns an 11-8 (.579) lead in the all-time series, which began in 2002 when the Pirates joined C-USA and has been played at least twice every year. East Carolina is one of only two current Conference USA teams (Rice) who can boast of a winning record against the Cougars in the all-time series. However, the Cougars can boast of the most recent success after winning three of four games during the 2006 season.
The two teams are also regular rivals in the postseason, meeting at least once at the C-USA Tournament every season since ECU joined the league in 2002.
The Pirates won three straight series against the Cougars from 2002 to 2004 - including a sweep in 2004 - before the two teams split a rain-shortened 2005 series in Greenville, N.C. The Cougars earned their first series win in 2006 at Cougar Field, winning the first two games of that series.
After four previous attempts, the Cougars won their first C-USA series against East Carolina on March 31-April 2, 2006. UH enjoyed 4-3 and 13-4 wins in the first two games of the series before the Pirates stormed back to take a 3-0 win in the series finale and avoid the sweep.
The Cougars are 2-2 (.500) all-time against the Pirates at Cougar Field. In their most recent meeting, the Cougars enjoyed a 6-5 win during the second day of the 2004 C-USA Tournament on May 27, 2004. The Cougars have alternated wins and losses against East Carolina through the series' first four games at Cougar Field.
East Carolina comes into this weekend's series well rested after taking a break from midweek games. Last weekend, ECU posted a 6-3 win over Southern Miss in the series finale to avoid the series sweep.
Junior righthander T.J. Hose is scheduled to take the hill for the Pirates on Friday. This season, Hose has compiled a 5-4 record with a team-best 54 strikeouts and a 3.89 ERA.
Sophomore infielder Ryan Wood paces the Pirates with a .336 batting average, while senior Ryan Tousley leads the team with 10 home runs and 44 RBIs.
