By Mark Mayorga
Daily Cougar Staff

One of the biggest fears of a head coach coming on the heels of a huge victory is the embarrassment of having his players fall flat on their faces in the next game.

The Cougar baseball team (6-4) will try not to fall victim to this common curse when it plays San Diego State at 7 p.m. Friday and Southwest Texas State at 4 p.m. Sunday, both at Cougar Field. After breaking their five-game losing streak and balancing the Silver Glove series (1-1) against the No. 2-ranked team in the country, the Cougars are favored to win both games this weekend.

The mark of a successful team has always been the ability to take care of business against the teams they should beat while being able to play with upper echelon teams. The Cougar baseball team is following these guidelines step by step. The Cougars' early success has people whispering about the possibility of them making some noise in the NCAA playoffs.

After a win against No. 15 Arizona, SDSU will not be a pushover. Both clubs will also be dueling for the honor of capturing the John Moores Cup. Moores, the San Diego Padres owner, has been a significant contributor to both UH and SDSU.

"They put it on us last year," outfielder Brandon Caraway said. "They've got a pretty good team. I don't know if they're ranked or not, but it just seems like those are the teams that always kick us in the butt."

Taking the mound for the Cougars in Friday night's game will be sophomore Kyle Crowell. Left-hander Duncan McAdoo will get the ball against SWT. For the year, McAdoo is 0-1 with a 1.69 ERA, and he will need to be on key against the Bobcat team that gave No. 3 Texas all they could handle.

Fresh off their biggest game of the season, the Cougars have to come out of the gates fired up and ready to play fundamental baseball. If they can't, they could drop two games in a row at home.

"We're not really happy with where we sit in the polls," Crowell said. "That's why every game is a big game for us."