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Cougars, Owls up for Round 3

UH tries to close the deal in late innings; records go out window when rivals tangle

by Tom Carpenter
The Daily Cougar

The best baseball games are the backyard brawls between rival neighborhoods for bragging rights of their little niche of the universe.

The Cougars return to Reckling Park tonight to square off with the Rice Owls at 7 p.m. for Game 3 of the five-game Silver Glove Series.

Each team defended the home turf in the first go-around. Rice grabbed game one 8-4 when the Cougar pitching went south in the late innings, UH won the second game of the series 3-2 when Cougar pitchers answered the call in the hard fought victory.

Like Yogi Berra said, "Baseball is 90 percent mental -- the other half is physical."

Records and rankings get tossed out the window when the Owls and Cougars tangle; pride becomes tangible. Hard-nosed baseball gets turned up a notch when Rice and UH play King of the Hill with all their family and friends watching.

Rice swept Western Athletic Conference rival Fresno State 3-0 last weekend, pushing the fourth ranked Owls to 16-6, while the Cougars lost two of three against Texas Christian when UH pitchers oscillated between brilliant and dead-armed.

The Owls are expected to start lefty Matt Ueckert (1-0, 3.65 ERA). The Cougars will fight fire with fire by sending sophomore Matt Farrington to the mound for his first collegiate start. The Sugar Land native is also the first Cougar left-hander to start a game this season.

Farrington has appeared in relief seven times, accumulating a 4.76 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 11 innings.

Senior designated hitter Brett Cooley leads the Cougar hitters with a .293 average with five homeruns and 23 RBIs.

His Rice counterpart, shortstop Paul Janish, has five homers and 31 RBIs while outfielder Chris Kolkhorst leads the Owl hitters with a .381 batting average.

The Cougars are hitting .277 as a team while opponents are banging Cougar pitching at a .288 clip.

The Cougars will have to find a way to cool the bat of Rice University sophomore rightfielder Lance Pendleton, who was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week when he led the nationally-ranked Owls to a 4-0 week. He batted .571 (8-of-14) and led the team in home runs (2), RBI (9), total bases (14) and slugging percentage (1.000).

The Cougars will travel to Birmingham, Ala. on Friday for a three-game series against C-USA rival Alabama-Birmingham.

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