PREVIEW: Cougars Tussle with Cowboys

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Houston Baseball will leave the state of Texas for a midweek game for the first time since March 21, 2023, to take on McNeese on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. The game will not be streamed on a digital streaming platform but will be on radio on UHCougars.com/listen.

HOUSTON (23-20, 7-13 Big 12) at McNeese (30-10, 17-7 Southland)
Date \| Time	Tuesday, April 29
Opponent	McNeese (30-10)
Location	Lake Charles, La.
Watch	None
Listen	The Varsity Network \| Lonnie King
Live Stats	UHStats.com
Game Notes	Houston \| McNeese
Media Center	Notes, media guide/record book, rosters, box scores, photos

THE MATCHUP

Houston is 55-20 against McNeese with the 75 meetings the 10th-most played match-up in Cougar baseball history.
The Cowboys won the April 9 meeting in 10 innings 4-3.
Junior Coby DeJesus drove in two of the Cougars three runs during the April 9 meeting including the game-tying sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to force extra innings.
Right-handed pitcher Alex Solis struck out five in five innings while allowing just two hits on April 9.

QUICK HITTERS

Senior Antoine Jean is arguably the nation's best pitcher with a Division I leading 15.53 strikeouts per nine innings pitched and the fourth-best hits allowed per nine rate of 4.76 while striking out the 11th most hitters in all of college baseball with 88 and allowing the 16th best WHIP of 0.92.
Houston's 12 road wins is fourth-most in the Big 12. The Cougars have improved their road win total from 2024 by 160% with four road games remaining.
Jean's 62.8% whiff rate on his curveball leads all D-1 pitchers who have thrown at least 100 curveballs. His 40.8% whiff rate is third-best nationally among pitchers with at least 500 pitches thrown.
Jean leads the team with 1.86 WAR through 43 games this season while Broussard's 1.82 WAR is best among Houston position players. Jean's 1.89 pWAR is 17th nationally and second in the Big 12 Conference.
Junior Chris Scinta is tied with Jean for both the team lead in wins (4) and the team lead in appearances (16).
Broussard's wheels are turning, successfully stealing 21 bases in a row this season before being caught against Rice on April 8. The Houston native is tied for second all-time in school history for consecutive stolen bases. Broussard's 28 stolen bases ranks ninth in program history. Broussard is chasing the school record of 36 stolen bases in a single season set by Trey Williams in 1969.
Broussard's 28 stolen bases ranks 16th nationally and second in the Big 12.
Sophomore Xavier Perez recorded his second four-hit game of the season, both in midweek games, driving in three on two doubles and a home run against A&M Corpus Christi. Perez drove in the most RBI in a game since Bobby Hollas' nine RBI in 1979 when he drove in eight Cougars at Rice on March 5.
Jean pitched to a Big 12 best 2.21 ERA in the month of March with 34 strikeouts across 20.1 innings over six appearances. The southpaw pitcher held opponents to a .182 average against while striking out 15.05 per nine innings.
Houston scored 10+ runs in five consecutive games scoring 10+ for the first time since 1999 scoring 10+ in games at Rice (3/5), vs Grambling (3/7-9) and at Sam Houston (3/12).
Houston won its first four series to open the season for the first time since 2019.

LAST TIME OUT

Sophomore Anthony Avalos and junior Brandon Bishop hit back-to-back first inning home runs in Houston's four-run first inning.
Jean struck out eight in a career-high 6.2 innings.

SERIES HISTORY
Houston record vs McNeese       55-20
Last meeting      L, 4-3 (10 inn.), 4/9/25
Streak                     McNeese, W1
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Anthony Avalos

Brandon Bishop

Coby DeJesus

Antoine Jean

Xavier Perez

Chris Scinta

Alex Solis

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