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Sports

Cougars hope road woes don't follow to Cali

UC Irvine to host three-game weekend series with Cougars, 
who sport a 1-6 record on the road 

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar

      To be a good team in any league, one has to be able to win consistently away from home, and the UH baseball team has yet to prove it can. With a 1-6 road record, the Cougars will look to improve when they travel to southern California to face off against the University of California at Irvine in a three-game series at Anteater Ballpark beginning 8 p.m. Friday.

"We need to do a better job of winning on the road. Right now, we're 1-6 on the road, and that's not going to get you very far," head coach Rayner Noble said. "It's a big weekend for us, and hopefully, we'll get to play because I know the weather's supposed to be pretty bad out there. If we get the opportunity to play, hopefully, we'll relax at the plate and swing it like we can."

The Cougars (9-8) will hit the road after pulling out a close 4-3 win against Lamar on Tuesday night at Cougar Field, avenging a 5-4 loss to the Cardinals on Feb. 28 in Beaumont. In contrast to some of its other outings this season, the UH bullpen improved this time with relievers Shea Hancock and Aaron Brown combining to toss eight innings, allowing four hits and one run with six strikeouts, after starter Clint Corrigan left the game after one inning. 

To open the series on Friday, the Cougars will send right-hander Brad Lincoln (3-1, 2.23 ERA) to the mound. Lincoln has been the Cougars' best pitcher so far, leading the staff in wins, innings pitched (32.1) and strikeouts (42). Lincoln, also one of the Cougars' top sluggers, is second on the team with a .328 batting average and leads the team with three home runs and 18 RBIs.

"Lincoln has been very good so far this season," Noble said. "He's back up to his old tricks. Against LSU (on Friday), he kept the ball down, didn't walk people and made the big pitch when he needed to make it."

UC Irvine (12-7) will welcome the Cougars into Southern California after pushing USC over the edge in a 10-9 win (13 innings) on Tuesday night. 

The Anteaters will send right-hander Justin Cassel (2-2, 5.10) to oppose the Cougars. In his last outing, a 3-1 win over Sacramento State on Friday, Cassel allowed only one run in eight innings of work while striking out nine batters.

UH will also have to contend with senior outfielder Gary Dudrey and sophomore utility man Taylor Holiday, who lead the team in batting with averages of .438 and .351, respectively.

"UC Irvine is going to pitch well. They have a pretty good pitching staff, but I don't think it's an overpowering one," Noble said. "We're going to be facing a quality ball club, and we just need to take our A-game out there and get after it."

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