University of Houston Athletics
Baseball to Face C-USA Rival This Weekend
4/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 17, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Winners of eight of their last 10 games, the 19th-ranked University of Houston baseball team hits the road this weekend to face Conference USA rival UAB in a three-game series at Young Memorial Field in Birmingham, Ala.
The series begins at 7 p.m., Friday, continues at 2 p.m., Saturday and wraps up at noon, Sunday. Fans should note that Sunday's game time was changed from earlier published schedules to accommodate the Cougars' travel plans.
Fans can hear all Cougar Baseball games on the internet at UHCougars.com with Jeremy Branham calling the play-by-play action and former letterman Pat Cauley providing color analysis. Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the GameTracker link at UHCougars.com.
With a 7-2 record in Conference USA games, the Cougars look for a successful series against the Blazers to remain near the top of the league standings. UH comes into this weekend's series in second place, trailing only No. 7 Rice.
Sophomore southpaw Wes Musick will make his ninth consecutive weekend start during the series opener Friday. This season, the Lufkin native has posted a 7-1 record with 51 strikeouts and a 2.85 ERA in 53.2 innings.
He leads all Cougar hurlers in wins, ERA, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts and leads all C-USA pitchers with his win total.
Musick outdueled Tulane starter Shooter Hunt during the series opener on April 11 in one of the season's premier college pitching matchups. He struck out a season-high nine batters while allowing only three runs off four hits and two walks in 7.1 innings to earn the win. Musick struck out at least one batter in five of the last six innings that he worked and retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced.
Friday's game will be Musick's second career start against the Blazers. In his only other outing, he earned the win after limiting the Blazers to three runs (two earned) off five hits and three walks with six strikeouts in five innings during the middle game of the series on April 7, 2007.
Senior infielder Bryan Pounds continues to lead the Cougars and rank among the C-USA individual leaders with a .421 batting average, eight home runs and 44 RBIs. He joins Marshall's Nate Lape as the only players to rank among the Top-Seven C-USA individual leaders in all Triple Crown categories.
Senior second baseman Ryan Lormand is second on the team with a 331 batting average, making him one of five players hitting above .300 in 2008. The Waco native also leads the Cougars with 17 stolen bases and has successful swiped his last 17 bases, the fourth-longest streak in school history.
Lormand saw his streak of 19 consecutive bases dating back to last season snapped during the series finale against Pacific on Feb. 24. He is the only player in school history to successfully swipe at 15 consecutive bases twice during his career.
For the 12th consecutive season, the Cougars will face UAB on the baseball diamond. The Cougars own a 26-7 (.788) lead in the all-time series, which began in 1997 when both teams joined Conference USA and has been played at least once every year since.
The Cougars bring a two-game winning streak into Friday's series opener and have won three of their last four and six of their last eight games against the Blazers.
After losing the first regular-season series in 1997, the Cougars have won the last seven three-game series against the Blazers. The 2000 regular-season series was shortened to one game (a 16-3 Houston win) due to poor weather in Birmingham.
The Cougars have posted an 11-2 (.846) all-time record against the Blazers in Alabama. UH also has won five of its last six road games against the Blazers with only a 7-4 setback in the middle game of the 2006 series preventing a much longer Cougar streak.
UAB (15-21, 1-8 C-USA) comes into the series after taking an 11-4 win over Kennesaw State on Wednesday in Birmingham. Senior first baseman Ryan Keedy leads the Blazers with a .411 batting average, while senior outfielder Phil Bell is tops with seven home runs and 42 RBIs.
Junior righthander James Oliver is expected to start the series opener. This season, Oliver has compiled a 2-2 record with 11 strikeouts and a 5.60 ERA in 17.2 innings.
