Baseball Set To Open C-USA Tournament Play Wednesday
5/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 24, 2011
PEARL, Miss. - The University of Houston baseball team will open tournament play against East Carolina at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Trustmark Park in the 2011 Conference USA Baseball Championship presented by Trustmark.
The tournament features the top eight teams in regular-season conference play. Those teams have been split in to two four-team pods, with the winner of each pod playing in the championship game. Each team is guaranteed to play three games, playing the other teams in its pod.
Houston will be joined in pod number two by Southern Miss, East Carolina and Tulane. Pod number one features Rice, UCF, Memphis and UAB.
Following their opening round game against the Pirates, Houston will take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, with their final pod game coming against Tulane at 4 p.m. Friday.
Each game of the championship on Wednesday and Friday will be streamed live on ConferenceUSA.com. All four games on Thursday will be televised live by CSS. The championship game on Saturday, May 28 will be televised live by CBS Sports Network, beginning at 7 p.m.
In addition to the live streaming video on ConferenceUSA.com, Houston fans can also follow all of the action through the gametracker and the online radio links on the baseball schedule page at UHCougars.com.
HOUSTON- C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The Cougars will make their 14th appearance in the annual tournament, having qualified each season since joining the league in 1996. During that time, Houston is 31-20 and has been named the tournament champion three times (2008, 2000, 1997). Three Cougars have gone to earn tournament MVP honors and 28 have been named to the All-Tournament Team.
A LOOK AT THE COUGARS
Houston enters the weekend with a 25-30 record and a 12-12 mark in league play. Senior Ryan Still leads the team with a .322 batting average, while senior Caleb Ramsey and sophomore Chase Jensen lead the team with 44 RBIs.
On the mound, junior Jordan Lewis is 5-3 with a 3.70 ERA. In a team-high 80.1 innings, Lewis has allowed 33 earned runs with a team-high 53 strikeouts.
Prior to the start of the C-USA Championship, Ramsey was named a Second Team All-Conference selection, while freshman Landon Appling was named to the All-Freshman Team. For his performance in the classroom, junior Matt Creel earned his second All-Academic Team award.
EAST CAROLINA
The East Carolina Pirates were named the No. 3 seed after finishing the regular season with a 37-18 record and a 14-10 mark in C-USA play.
Trent Whitehead and Jack Reinheimer lead the team with a .333 batting average, while Whitehead also has a team-high 20 doubles. On the mound, Seth Maness is 8-3 with a 2.07 ERA. He has pitched a team-high 87 innings, allowing 20 earned runs with a team-high 67 strikeouts.
During the 2011 season, UH played host to the Pirates in a three-game series at Cougar Field, April 21-23. Despite dropping the series 2-1, Lewis went on to be named the C-USA Pitcher of the Week after a 4-2 win in game two of the series. He pitched seven innings, allowing one earned run on five hits.
The Pirates are a familiar opponent as the two programs have met nine times before in tournament play. Houston is 6-3 in those games and has won the last four games against the Pirates in the C-USA Tournament. All-time, Houston is 16-20 against East Carolina.
SOUTHERN MISS
Houston's second opponent of the C-USA Championship is the second-seeded Southern Miss Golden Eagles. They stand at 38-15 this season with a 16-8 mark in league play.
Tyler Koelling leads the Golden Eagles with a .367 batting average, 18 doubles, one triple and four home runs. Todd McInnis, the 2011 C-USA Pitcher of the Year, leads USM with a 7-2 record and a 2.79 ERA. He has turned in 80.2 innings on the mound, allowing 25 earned runs with 73 strikeouts.
The Golden Eagles traveled to Houston for a three-game series, May 13-15. After suffering a disappointing game one loss, UH bounced back to win the final two games of the series. In game two, freshman Dustin Fuerst pitched a career-long five innings. He allowed just one run on one hit to give him his first career win as a Cougar. Junior Mo Wiley came in and pitched the first complete game of his career in the finale as Houston went on to take a 6-1 win.
The Cougars are 1-3 all-time against Southern Miss in C-USA tournament play and trail the all-time series 25-26. Southern Miss defeated UH 10-6 last season in their only meeting in the C-USA Tournament.
TULANE
Houston's final game of pod play comes against Tulane on Friday. The Green Wave is 30-24 on the season and 10-14 in C-USA action.
Jeremy Schaffer leads Tulane with a .352 batting average, 23 doubles, two triples and six home runs. Pitcher Conrad Flynn posts a 3-6 record and a 3.83 ERA. He has pitched a team-high 89.1 innings with a team-best 66 strikeouts.
The Cougars traveled to New Orleans, April 1-3, during their opening weekend of C-USA play. They walked away with a 3-0 sweep of the Green Wave, including two shutout wins. On the weekend, UH outscored Tulane 16-2. Creel pitched seven scoreless innings in the series opener, while Wiley went eight scoreless innings in the finale.
Houston improved to 31-24 all-time against Tulane with the series sweep earlier this season. They have met just four times in C-USA Tournament play and the series is tied 2-2.
