UH opens 4-game home set with Michigan at 5 p.m.

by Andrew J. Ferraro

When the Michigan Wolverines open a four-game series Saturday at 5 p.m. against the Cougars baseball team at Cougar Field, they will be playing their first game under first-year coach Geoff Zahn.

Zahn was an assistant coach at Pepperdine last season, and his team won the West Coast Conference championship with a 23-3-1 league record in 1995.

This season, Zahn will be coaching a young team primarily made up of freshmen or redshirt freshmen.

"Most of our guys are new," Zahn said. "But most of our experience is up the middle at the shortstop and second base positions, with Kelly Dransfeldt leading the way for us."

Dransfeldt hit .291 last year as a junior, including four home runs, 27 RBIs and six stolen bases.

The top returning pitcher for Michigan is reliever John Arvai, who led the team with a 4.02 ERA last season.

Arvai also had a record of 8-3 in 40 1/3 innings of work and allowed just 18 earned runs.

Houston (7-4) is coming off a 5-1 defeat to the Houston Baptist Huskies in a game in which the Cougars showed their lowest offensive output this season (just seven hits).

Nevertheless, the Cougars are still averaging 8.6 runs and 11.7 hits per game.

Dominic Hernandez is hitting a team-high .444, including 18 runs, 20 hits, four doubles and three RBIs.

Catchers Brandon Milam and Bruce Rios are second and third, respectively, in team hitting with .375 and .344 averages.

Rios is tied for the team lead in home runs (two) with Scott Keithley and Karl Ryden.

Sunday's game will begin at 2 p.m. while Monday and Tuesday's clashes will both start at 7 p.m.