University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Ready to Go at C-USA Championship
5/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 20, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - The University of Houston baseball team opens the 2008 Entergy Conference USA Championship at 9 a.m., Wednesday when it faces No. 5 seed East Carolina at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
Wednesday's game will be a part of two long-standing traditions for the Cougars. First, it will be the 13th consecutive season that the Cougars will compete at a postseason conference championship, including each of the last 12 as a member of Conference USA.
Second, it marks the sixth time in the last seven seasons that the Cougars will face East Carolina at the C-USA Championship. The Cougars have won their last two C-USA Championship games against the Pirates (2004 and 2005) and are hoping to run that streak to three games as they continue to build their résumé for the NCAA Selection Committee.
Fans can hear Cougar Baseball games live at UHCougars.com by clicking the appropriate links. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play action while former letterwinner Pat Cauley provides color analysis.
Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the Gametracker link.
UH has posted a 24-17 (.585) all-time record at the C-USA Championship, winning titles in 1997 and 2000. The Cougars also made three other C-USA Championship game appearances in 2006 (Rice), 2002 (East Carolina) and 1999 (Tulane).
However, Louisiana has not been a friendly state to the Cougars during the C-USA postseason. The 2008 campaign will be the Cougars' fourth visit to the state for the C-USA Championship (2003, 2001, 1998). During those games, the Cougars have posted a 2-6 (.250) all-time record in Championship games hosted by Tulane.
In their last visit to Louisiana, the Cougars went 1-2 at the old Turchin Stadium in 2003, defeating East Carolina before dropping back-to-back contests to Southern Miss and East Carolina.
Sophomore southpaw Wes Musick will make his 14th consecutive weekend start this season during the Cougars' first-round game against No. 5 seed East Carolina on Wednesday during the 2008 Entergy C-USA Championship. This season, the Lufkin native has posted an 8-4 record with 72 strikeouts and a 4.15 ERA in 82.1 innings.
He leads all Cougar hurlers in wins, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts and is tied for third among all C-USA hurlers with his win total.
With his impressive totals, he also ranks among the Top-10 Conference USA leaders in all three pitching Triple Crown categories (win, ERA, strikeouts), making him one of only five players in that exclusive group. He joins Tulane's Shooter Hunt (2.10 ERA - 2nd; 110 Ks - 1st; 9 wins - 1st); Southern Miss' Barry Bowden (1.63 ERA - 1st; 69 Ks - 8th; 7 wins - t-7th); East Carolina's Justin Bristow (3.05 ERA - 7th; 73 Ks - 4th; 8 wins - t-3rd) and Seth Maness (2.79 ERA - 3rd; 75 Ks - 3rd; 9 wins - t-1st) and Rice's Ryan Berry (2.87 ERA - 5th; 76 Ks - 2nd; 7 wins - t-7th).
In his last start, Musick helped set the tone for the entire series with an impressive outing during the series opener Thursday against Marshall. He snapped a career-high three-game losing streak after limiting the Thundering Herd to only two runs off two hits and five walks with five strikeouts in 7.1 innings.
Musick retired 12 of the first 13 batters that he faced before giving up a leadoff home run in the fifth inning. It was his first win since enjoying a 4-3 win over Tulane on April 11 at Cougar Field.
Wednesday's game will be Musick's third career start against the Pirates. During that time, he has compiled a 1-0 record with 12 strikeouts and an impressive 1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings.
In his last outing, he earned the win in the series opener by limiting the Pirates to two runs off six hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 6.1 innings during 14-2 Cougar win on March 21 in Greenville, N.C.
In his only previous outing at the league's postseason event, Musick was the no-luck loser in an elimination game against No. 8 seed UCF during the 2007 Championship. He allowed only one run off six hits and a walk with five strikeouts in a career-best eight innings but was the victim of the Cougars' fourth shutout loss that season.
This marks the seventh consecutive season that the Cougars have faced East Carolina on the diamond. The Pirates own a 15-10 (.600) advantage in the all-time series, which began in 2002 when ECU joined Conference USA.
However, the Cougars can boast of the most recent success after winning two of three games in Greenville, N.C., on March 21-23. UH enjoyed a 14-2 win in the opener and wrapped up the series with an 8-5 victory for their second straight road series win against ECU.
That win in the series opener snapped a three-game losing streak to the Pirates.
With Wednesday's game, ECU will become the Cougars' second-most common opponent in postseason conference tournaments. The Pirates are currently tied with former Southwest Conference rival Texas with seven Championship showdowns.
The Cougars faced former Southwest Conference rival Arkansas nine times (winning three) during their membership in that league.
East Carolina is one of only two current C-USA teams that can boast of a winning all-time record against the Cougars. No. 1 seed Rice owns a 77-68 (.531) lead in the series against the Cougars.
This marks the sixth time in the last seven seasons that the Cougars will face East Carolina at the league's postseason event. The two teams missed one another during the 2007 Championship, which was played, ironically, at ECU's Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The Cougars bring a two-game winning streak against the Pirates in C-USA Championship games into Wednesday's contest, enjoying wins in 2006 and 2004.
The Pirates have not defeated the Cougars at a postseason tournament since a 6-5 win on May 25, 2005, during the opening round at Southern Miss' Hill Denson Field at Pete Taylor Park.
Wednesday's game also will be the third time that the two teams have met in the first round with both teams splitting the previous two games. The Cougars enjoyed a 2-1 win on May 21, 2003, in New Orleans, while the Pirates took a 6-5 win on May 25, 2005, in Hattiesburg, Miss.
East Carolina (39-17, 13-11 C-USA) comes into the Championship as the No. 5 seed. Last weekend, the Pirates won the first two games before falling in the series finale at Memphis.
Outfielder Harrison Eldridge leads the Pirates with a .362 average, while catcher Corey Kemp is tops with 15 home runs and 66 RBIs.
Freshman righthander Seth Maness is scheduled to take the hill for the Pirates on Wednesday. The season, he has posted a 9-1 record with 75 strikeouts and a 2.79 ERA in 84.0 innings.
