University of Houston Athletics
Baseball Heads To Memphis For Regular Season Finale
5/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 18, 2011
HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team will wrap-up the 2011 regular season when they travel to Memphis this weekend for a three-game series against the Tigers. The series begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, continues at 6:30 p.m. Friday and concludes at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Fans can follow all of the weekend's action through the gametracker and the online radio links on the baseball schedule page at UHCougars.com.
Houston enters the weekend with a 24-28 overall record and an 11-10 mark in Conference USA. With their 2-1 series win over Southern Miss, the Cougars clinched a spot in the 2011 C-USA Baseball Championship presented by Trustmark. They are currently tied with East Carolina for third place in the league standings.
Senior Ryan Still leads the team with a .321 batting average, three doubles, three triples and 17 RBIs. Senior Caleb Ramsey's 16 doubles and 43 RBIs are also a team-high.
As a team, UH continues to lead the league with 22 triples. In addition, they rank fourth in doubles (92) and stolen bases (56) and sixth in batting average (.284).
Memphis stands at 27-24 on the season and 10-11 in league action. They are in a three-way tie with Tulane and UCF behind the Cougars and East Carolina.
Chad Zucher leads the Tigers with a .458 batting average, 18 doubles, two triples and 33 RBIs. Phillip Chapman paces the team with 19 doubles and T.J. Rich has a team-high 50 RBIs.
The series this weekend against Memphis marks the 45th meeting all-time between the two schools. Houston leads the series 35-9 after going 2-1 in last season's series at Cougar Field. The last time the two programs met in Memphis UH came away with a 2-1 series win in 2009.
In the series opener, junior Jordan Lewis has been named Houston's starter. He will start opposite the Tiger's Dan Langfield. Lewis is 5-2 this season with a 3.55 ERA. He has pitched a team-high 76 innings with a team-high 49 strikeouts while allowing 30 earned runs. Langfield leads Memphis with 4.61 ERA and a 2-3 record. He has allowed 36 earned runs in 70.1 innings, while striking out a team-high 78 batters.
The series will continue on Friday with junior Matt Creel making the start for Houston, while Ryan Holland will start for Memphis. Creel is 5-4 in three starts with a 5.15 ERA. He has pitched 50.2 innings with 33 strikeouts. Holland is 4-3 with a 5.05 ERA in 13 starts for the Tigers. He has pitched a team-high 82 innings with 57 strikeouts while allowing 46 earned runs.
Junior Mo Wiley will make the start against Clayton Gant in Saturday's finale. In his last start, Wiley pitched the first complete game of his career, allowing one run on eight hits in a 6-1 series finale win over Southern Miss last weekend at Cougar Field. He is 3-4 this season with a 4.84 ERA in 57.2 innings. He has struck out 24 batters while allowing 31 earned runs. Gant is 4-2 with a 4.68 ERA in 13 starts. He has pitched 67.1 innings, allowing 35 earned runs with 21 strikeouts.
Upon conclusion of the series against Memphis, UH will head to Pearl, Miss., for the 2011 Conference USA Baseball Championship presented by Trustmark, May 25-28. The tournament schedule will be released Saturday evening at the completion of all league games.
