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Sports

Houston, winless on road, heads to LSU

Team on rebound after 5-4 loss to Lamar

by Patrick Fairman
The Daily Cougar

The Cougars (7-6) will make their way east to Baton Rouge to visit the Baseball America No. 17-ranked Louisiana State University Tigers (10-1) at Alex Box Stadium. The three-game series will kick off Friday at 6:30 p.m., with the next two games taking place at noon Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

As it stands now, the Cougars are 5-0 at home, winless on the road and 1-2 on neutral sites.

The Cougars enter the game after losing a 5-4 heartbreaker against Lamar (7-6) on Tuesday, which snapped a four-game winning streak, while the Tigers enter the game with an eight-game winning streak, their longest since the 2004 season.

The Cougars got another solid outing from sophomore Ricky Hargrove, who lasted 6.2 innings and gave up three runs -- two earned -- while striking out seven. His ERA is still resting near improbable at a minuscule 1.27. 

Once again, the bullpen proved to be anything but a relief when it was called upon, but it was not the only factor in the loss. 

A botched catch by senior second baseman Isa Garcia helped the Cardinals load the bases, and instead of ending the inning with a double play, the game was tied at four. 

Moments later, pinch hitter Andrew Leal would keep his bat on his shoulders for all four pitches from junior Clayton Boone (0-1). The result was a walk that sent home the winning run for Lamar.

The bright spot of the day was a solo home run by first baseman Josh Stirneman in the fourth.

The other runs were scored off the bats of junior designated hitter Brad Lincoln in the third with a two-run RBI single and in the eighth inning off the metal of junior shortstop Dustin Kingsbury.

LSU senior outfielder Bruce Sprowl was named SEC Player of the Week on Monday. During four games, Sprowl batted .533 (8-for-15) including two doubles, two triples and six RBIs, and posted a .556 on-base percentage. LSU hosted the Temple Owls over the weekend and swept the series 4-1, 9-0 and 14-4.

Before LSU welcomes the Cougars to town, they will first play Louisiana-Monroe (0-9). Since LSU skipper Smoke Laval joined the Tigers staff he as a perfect record of 8-0 against his former team, ULM.

Leading LSU hitting is Sprowl with a .429 average. LSU's home run leader is Will Harris with two, and the RBI leader is Michael Hollander with 13. Every starting hitter on the Tigers currently bats above .300, and their team batting average is .359.

As far as the LSU's starting pitching staff, the leader in wins, lowest ERA, and most innings pitched is Derik Olvey with a 0.39 ERA and a 3-0 record in 23.1 innings. Strikeouts leader is Caly Dirks, with 26 K's and four walks in 18 innings. 

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