University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Begins Practice for 2010 Season
1/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 25, 2010
HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team began preparations Monday afternoon for the start of the 2010 season with the team's first full practice.
The 34 members of the Cougar baseball team took to the field for more than two hours, in the first organized workouts since their fall practice session. UH opens the season on Feb. 19-21 with a three-game home series against Texas State.
Head coach Rayner Noble returns much of his team from a year ago that finished fourth in Conference USA and went 2-2 in the 2009 Conference USA Tournament. Among those returners are senior catcher Chris Wallace, junior pitcher Jared Ray, junior shortstop Blake Kelso and sophomore pitcher Michael Goodnight.
Wallace returns for his final season as the Cougars' starting catcher. The Cypess, Texas, native led the team a season ago in home runs (9) and slugging percentage (.542) despite missing a month of the season after being struck in the cheek by a ball. In addition to being an All C-USA Second Team selection, Wallace was also named to the Houston College Classic All-Tournament Team.
Pitchers Ray and Goodnight both earned postseason accolades in 2009. Ray was a All C-USA Second Team selection after finishing with 52 strikeouts and only 47 runs allowed in 62.1 innings. Additionally, he put together a string of 31 consecutive scoreless innings, the third longest in school history. Goodnight moved into the weekend rotation in his freshman campaign and earned a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman Team. He ended the 2009 season on a high note after pitching a career-long 8.1 innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts against UAB in the C-USA Tournament.
A two-year letterwinner, Kelso earned a spot on the All C-USA Second Team and will be back to anchor the infield in 2010. His performance in the classroom also earned him a spot on the C-USA All-Academic Team. He led the team last season in batting average (.335), hits (85), runs (45), doubles (16) and was third on the team with 12 stolen bases.
Bringing depth to the squad is the addition of 14 newcomers. Looking to see their first action in a Cougar uniform in 2010 are Alex Anastas, Joel Ansley, Eric Brooks, M.P. Cokinos, James Conlee, Matt Creel, Dakota Dill, Ryan Eastman, Austin Gracey, Erik Pesek, Kevin Peters, Tanner Shiflett, Ryan Still and Travis Trial.
Follow all the action of the 2010 season by going to UHCougars.com and clicking on the baseball page.
In addition to following the Cougars online this season, the senior class of 2010 will be writing a weekly blog "The Inside Pitch" to update their fans on all that goes on behind the scenes. Follow them by logging on to www.UHCougars.com/blog and submit your comments and questions to the team.
Each week during the 2010 season, the University of Houston baseball team will also feature one member of its team as the Player of the Week. The goal of having a Player of the Week is to give fans a chance to get to know the Cougars off the field. To find out who will be featured, go to the baseball page every Monday.
