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Coogs can right ship vs. Billikens

Houston has handled Saint Louis in past; weak SLU pitching should spark UH bats

by Tom Carpenter
The Daily Cougar

The Boys of Summer visit St. Louis to open a three-game series with Conference USA rival Saint Louis in the Billiken Sports Center tonight at 7 p.m. 

Houston has an opportunity to sweep the series against SLU, which would give the Cougars some momentum to bring their record to the .500 mark. 

UH (14-21, 7-5 in C-USA) has hammered the Billikens (10-24, 1-10) since the two teams resumed play against each other in 1997 as Conference USA rivals. The Cougars own an 18-game winning streak against Saint Louis, the longest winning streak against a team in any sport at UH.

Senior righthander Matt Varner (4-2, 4.15 ERA) will take the mound for the Cougars in game 1 against Saint Louis righthander Dave Guntorius (1-5, 5.47).

Varner's four wins is tops among UH hurlers and the West Columbia flamethrower leads the staff with 32 strikeouts. His 4.15 ERA trails only senior Garret Mock's 3.99, and Varner's ERA shrinks to a miniscule 2.49 against C-USA hitters.

The Cougars bats have come alive in the past dozen games and the team batting average has climbed to a respectable .282.

Freshman Jake Stewart's average has surged to .318, tops among the Cougars, with steady seniors Nick Bott, Brett Cooley and Cole Bruce hitting .311, .301 and .300 respectively.

Cooley leads the Cougars with five homeruns and 25 RBIs while Bott and Bruce have chipped in three dingers each. Juniors Stuart Musselwhite and Rob Johnson have added 19 RBIs apiece. Senior Patrick Breen and sophomore Kevin Roberts have each belted two homers and driven in 13 runs to help the Cougars to five wins in the past eight games.

Cougar hitters should feast on the offerings served up by the beleaguered Saint Louis pitching staff. 

As a group, the Billikens post a 7.87 ERA. Opposing hitters are pounding the ball at a torrid .343 clip, and the hurting hurlers from Saint Louis have given up 426 hits and 51 gopher balls in 34 games. The Billikens have been outscored 314 to 189 so far this season.

Drew Eder leads the Saint Louis hitters, averaging .252 as a team, with a.306 average. Scott Peden and Kyle Wort have slammed six homers each followed by Jon Greenwich with five.

Play continues at 1 p.m. Saturday and wraps up at noon Sunday.

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