by Matt Milner
Staff Writer
After dropping two of three against Tulane this past weekend, the Houston Cougars (15-6 C-USA, 31-17 overall) are holding on for dear life to a half-game lead over Tulane and Southern Miss (both 14-6 in Conference USA) for the C-USA regular season crown. They have two crucial conference series against UAB and Cincinnati over the next two weeks. But first, the Baylor Bears pay them a nonconference visit 7 p.m. today at Cougar Field.
In their only other meeting this season, the Cougars annihilated the Bears (29-19 overall 16-11 Big 12) in a 12-5 thumping. Despite the Bears using their best pitcher, senior left-hander Kris Lambert, on the mound that night, the Cougars still came away with a convincing victory.
The Cougars were also without the services of their leading hitter Geofrey Tomlinson, who pulled a hamstring in the pre-game warm-ups. But, Tomlinson is now healthy and currently leads the team with a .402 batting average and is tied for the team lead in homers with 10.
This time, the Bears will send out sophomore right-hander Kip Wells to the mound. Wells is 2-4 with a 5.97 ERA so far this season.
With their abundance of left-handed hitters, the Cougars would be looking forward to seeing a right hander on the mound, right? Maybe not. With 12 of their 17 losses coming against right-handers this season, and with the Cougar bats lacking much consistency lately, coach Rayner Noble has a plan.
"We haven't been swinging the bats all that well the past few games," Noble said. "So we are going to have to manufacture some runs.
"We were going against their top pitcher in Kris Lambert the last time out and we adjusted well to their pitching," he said. "That will be a key for us again this game."
Scott McLeod picked up the win for the Cougars in their first meeting by fanning nine Bears in six innings of work. This time, the Cougars are throwing in left-hander Jon McDonald (5-2 with a 5.97 ERA), who Noble hopes to get at least six or seven innings out of.
Baylor Assistant Sports Information Director Jason Archinal feels the Bears have improved since their first go round with the Cougars.
"We couldn't get much out of our relievers last time we faced them and our bats came alive a little too late," Archinal said, "but we are coming around as a team. We are getting runs at crucial moments and our pitching is coming around."
With the C-USA race tightening up and with crucial conference games coming up for the Cougars, a nonconference game against Baylor might seem insignificant. Still, if the Cougars were to not win the C-USA tournament, they would have to rely on their overall record to help them get an at-large bid for the NCAA post-season tournament, which is something Noble is fully aware of.
"We are certainly focusing on finishing first in conference and winning the conference tournament," Noble said. "But every game is important, and we are treating this game no differently.
"We come to play every night and we are going to go out and play hard, but we may conserve some of our relief pitching for this weekend's games."