by Catherine Taylor
Staff Writer
The Houston Cougars head to New Orleans this weekend to take on the Tulane Green Wave in what has been dubbed the Conference USA series of the season.
The No. 21 Cougars (30-15 overall, 14-4 C-USA) are one game ahead of Southern Miss and one and one-half games up on the Wave in C-USA standings. With such a tight race taking place for the top spot in the conference, this is a make-or-break series for both teams.
"It's gonna be a big series," UH catcher Scotty Scott said. "It's pretty much gonna set the season, whether we win conference or not."
The major battle of the weekend is going to be fought at the mound. Tulane's pitchers have the best ERA in the conference with a 3.79 average, while Houston ranks seventh with a 5.34 average.
"What's going to happen this weekend is the team that pitches best is the team that's gonna come out on top," UH coach Rayner Noble said. "They've got a pretty good pitching staff, and ours is capable of being very good.
"We're going to have to be good this weekend."
At the plate, the two teams are pretty even. Houston is led by center fielder Goefrey Tomlinson and third baseman Dustin Carr who bat .406 and .405 respectively.
The Wave boasts the C-USA hitter of the week, outfielder Craig Brown, who went 8-for-17 last week with two doubles and two home runs.
The matchup to watch this weekend will be between Tulane's catcher Chad Sutter, who was recently selected to try out for the USA baseball National Team, and Houston's often overlooked catcher Bruce Rios. Of the two sophomores, Rios has the edge hittingwise, batting .322 to Sutter's .307, and will no doubt be hungry to steal some glory from last year's C-USA Freshman of the Year.