Sports

UH ready to open season

Stuart H. Clements
The Daily Cougar

Pass out the shades because the future looks bright for the 2003 Houston baseball team.

In 2002, the Cougars began the season without much attention paid to the program, but under head coach Raynor Nobleis leadership, the polls began to pay attention.

Brian Viney/The Daily Cougar

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Despite losing two stars (then-juniors Chris Snyder and Jesse Crain) to the draft, the Cougars have their sights set no place but up, and have an opportunity to break the UH single season record for wins, which they tied last season.

"A lot of things have to go your way," Noble said. "I think that if we just tend to business early in the season, weill have a chance to do that. Thatis what we did last year. Weive got to be successful early, I think, for us to break 48 wins."

Pitching in the 2002 season was the best it had ever been, but this year, the Cougars are hoping to make it better. Last year, the pitching staff set a school record for a single season with 548 strikeouts.

At the end of the season, the Cougar pitching staff was ranked No. 5 in the nation, ending its season with a combined 3.20 ERA.

Experience will be the key to making the 2003 pitching staff even better than last seasonis. The staff will be led by junior right-hander Brad Sullivan, who is arguably the best pitcher in college baseball.

Of the 548 strikeouts posted by the Cougars last season, 157 of those belonged to Sullivan, who finished the season with a 1.82 ERA and was one of three finalists for the Rotary Smith Award. Sullivan will maintain his position as the Friday starter.

On Saturdays this season, junior Danny Zell will toe the rubber to start. Zell threw his first pitches as a Cougar last season and racked up eight wins, including a seven-win streak. The southpaw will prove a formidable adversary in weekend series.

Sophomore Garrett Mock will take the reins to close out the weekend rotation for the Cougars.

Mock, a junior college transfer, will make his debut Sunday against Washington during the Battle at the Beach in Malibu, Calif. Mock is coming to Houston from Grayson County College where he finished the season at 11-2, pitching 13 complete games.

"I had a pretty decent year last year," Mock said. "I hope as a starter I can give the team a good chance to win games. Weive got so much depth in our pitching rotation that if I can go five or six innings, that sets us up good for the rest of the game."

Mock said he understands the group of pitchers he stands with now, and that he hopes he can deliver.

"Itis a pretty big honor and privilege to come in and be mentioned in the same sentence as the guys who did so well last year," Mock said.

The Cougars will rely on Mock as a power pitcher. Heill be expected to deliver speed mixed with change-ups.

Juniors Gene Flores, Brian Henderson, Bryan Harris, Brian Martin and sophomore Ryan Wagner will provide the depth from the bullpen for Houstonis 2003 pitching staff. In addition, the Cougars will rely on the strength of Wagner and possibly senior infielder Brett Cooley as closers.

Last year Snyder, Crain and Cooley made a lethal triumvirate at the plate. Cooleyis the only one left to lead the offensive front this season.

Cooley exhibited pure power in 2002 with 18 home runs, 56 RBI and a .648 slugging percentage.

"I think early in the season Iill probably take a lot of walks," Cooley said. "But weire showing a lot this spring. Guys like junior infielder Cho Hyung, sophomore infielder Stuart Musslewhite and some freshmen will be able to put up numbers like Crain and Snyder."

Noble has also been pleasantly surprised by the Cougarsi hitting performance during spring training.

"Early weire going to really rely on our starting pitching," Noble said. "But I think we have the capability of swinging the bat well. Since we came back from the Christmas holidays our hittingis been unbelievable."

As usual, the Cougars are piling on the big games at the start of the season. Houston will face eight top 50 teams in the first month of the regular season, including No. 10 Baylor, No. 6 Louisiana State and No. 2 Rice. The Cougars will face 11 top 50 teams.

The Cougarsi first home game will be against Rice on Feb. 18. Itis the first game in the 2003 Silver Glove Series, an annual five-game series played to determine which team is truly the best in the Houston area.

Houston will face six Texas teams beginning with Baylor on Feb. 14 at the Astros College Classic. The Cougars will also face No. 34 Texas A&M, Sam Houston State, Texas Christian and Southwest Texas State.

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