Anna Sivadasan
Staff Writer
In its last four games, the University of Houston baseball team has continued to do something it has done in more than half its victories this year.
The Cougars have won 14 of their 25 games in come-from-behind fashion, a statistic that has helped them to a 25-20 record and a tie atop the Conference USA standings with a 13-5 mark.
"You could see the difference in the way we're playing now," said sophomore pitcher Shane Nance.
"If there's a big play on the line, you don't see people tensing up. We're just having fun, we're picking up the intensity, and we're starting to win."
UH returns to league action this weekend with a three-game series against the Louisville Cardinals (21-18, 9-9) beginning 7 p.m. today at Cougar Field.
The starters will be lefty Nance in the opener, righty Duncan McAdoo on Saturday and lefty Jon McDonald on Sunday.
The trio has been pitching some of its best baseball over the last few games, helping UH to win six consecutive conference games.
In his last five starts, Nance has pitched at least seven innings with an ERA of 1.69. McAdoo has allowed only four earned runs in his last three games. McDonald, the team leader in wins with seven, has an ERA of 2.96 in his last four starts.
After struggling to a 23-32 record last year, the upstart Cardinals have been one of the surprise teams in the conference this season.
The University of Louisville is three wins away from exceeding its C-USA win total of 11 from last year.
UL's starters for the weekend's series will be lefty Scott Stauffer, righty Brian Bentley and righty Sean Green.
Stauffer has been UL's most consistent starter, ranking among the C-USA leaders in ERA (4.58), conference wins (3) and innings pitched (39.1).
The sophomore pitched the Cardinals to their only victory over UH last season.
"The pitcher they're going to throw is a left-hander, and he's really good," said Cougar center fielder Mike Medrano. "On Friday, we're going to have to set the tone for the whole weekend."
Houston hitters should be up to the challenge after sweeping conference rival UAB and winning at No. 12 Texas A&M on Tuesday. In the four games, UH scored 25 runs and collected 46 hits.
Cougar head coach Rayner Noble, however, sees room for improvement.
"I don't think we've played especially well, but we've played well enough to win," Noble said. "I still think we're capable of doing a little better than what we've done in the last two weeks."
In addition to winning the three games against Louisville, the Cougars will also keep their eyes on the UAB-Tulane series this weekend in Birmingham.
UH is currently tied for first place with the Green Wave.
"We don't want to be co-champs with Tulane," right fielder Eric Lee said. "We want to win it all for ourselves."
Third baseman Kris Wilken added, "For us, every series is going to be big. We don't want the co-championship. We want to win it outright and have the first seed (in the C-USA Tournament)."
Tuesday: Cougars 9, No. 12 Aggies 7
On deck: Cougars (25-20 overall, 13-5 C-USA) vs. Louisville Cardinals (21-18, 9-9)
7 p.m. Friday at Cougar Field, 7 p.m. Saturday at Cougar Field, 1 p.m. Sunday at Cougar Field
*All home games are free to UH students