Sports
 

UH hopes to repeat history

Coogs head to College Station to tackle Aggies in rematch of '03 NCAA tourney

by Christian Schmidt
The Daily Cougar

Folsom Field might as well be the Cougars' home stadium. After all, no team has dominated Texas A&M in College Station quite like Houston has. The Cougars have four consecutive victories against the Aggies in College Station, including two victories (both 7-6 scores) in one day last year to take a regional victory and advance to the Super Regional against Rice. Houston was a decided underdog against the top-seeded Aggies.

Judging by the records, Houston (14-20 overall, 7-5 in Conference USA) should again be the underdog against Texas A&M (29-9 overall, 6-6 in Big 12) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, when the teams finish a two-game non-conference series. The Aggies beat the Cougars 8-7 March 9.

But after a rough start to the season, the Cougars have begun to turn things around and should give the Aggies a challenge. Houston is 5-2 over its last seven games and coming off a 5-3 loss to Charlotte on Sunday in the finale of a three-game C-USA series. The Aggies are 4-1 in their last five games, though they are coming off a 9-7 loss to Kansas on Sunday in the finale of a three-game conference series.

The emergence of sophomore designated hitter Kevin Roberts and freshman center fielder Jake Stewart, who were critical in wins over Charlotte, has been crucial to the Cougars' resurgence. Roberts leads the team with a .430 average while Stewart is third with a .326 average.

Add to that a pitching staff, led by junior Garrett Mock and sophomore Matt Varner, that's improved immensely over the last few weeks, and the Cougars keep looking better.

The Aggies are led by freshman infielder Austin Boggs, who boasts a .395 average. Freshman starting pitcher Jason Meyer has a 6-0 record and a 1.53 ERA for the season.

And the Cougars should have a definite psychological advantage against the Aggies. The last time the teams played at Folsom Field marked one of the most disappointing days in Aggie baseball history when A&M lost two games to the Cougars and failed to advance to the Super Regional against Rice.

Though some UH stalwarts from that game are gone (notably pitchers Brad Sullivan, Ryan Wagner and Danny Zell and center fielder Michael Bourn), the Aggies haven't forgotten how close they came to taking the Cougars out and advancing. Texas A&M just needed to win one game and had a lead in both contests. In the second game, UH tied in the ninth inning and won in extra frames.

 Send comments to dcsports@mail.uh.edu