Volume 2, Issue 2 University of Houston
Cougars crack Top 10 in preseason baseball poll
By Keenan Singleton
Staff Writer
After posting an impressive 40-24 record, a No. 24 national ranking and a regular-season conference championship for the first time in 39 years, the UH baseball team is poised to continue 1999's successful campaign into the new millennium.
The Cougars are ranked No. 10 in the nation according to Collegiate Baseball Magazine.
The Cougars return all eight position players and four starters from the pitching rotation.
One of those talented pitchers is preseason first team All-American awardee Kyle Crowell.
Chris Galloway/Breaking News
UH slid into the Top 10 of college baseball's elite according to Collegiate Baseball magazine. The magazine tabs UH as one of five Texas schools to crack the Top 25. Rice, Baylor, Texas Tech and Texas A&M are the other members representing the Lone Star State.
The junior right-hander was C-USA's pitcher of the year and also represented the USA as a part of the US National Team.
Crowell posted a stellar 11-2 record with a 3.00 ERA during the regular season and a respectable 2-1 record with a 4.03 ERA with the national team.
Junior catcher Jarrod Bitter was named to the All-American second team after leading the Cougars in batting average (.389) and was second in home runs, RBIs and walks.
Bitter is also solid defensively, where he anchored a strong defense that ranked first in the conference in fewest stolen bases allowed.
The Cougars open the season Feb. 4 against the Texas Longhorns at Disch-Falk
Field in Austin.
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