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Sports

UH to open C-USA play against hard-hitting Marshall

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar

This season has produced a slew of puzzling results for the UH baseball team. Early in the season, the Cougars (13-12) generated quality offense, but were plagued by inconsistent starting pitching and a shoddy bullpen.

Things improved as the pitchers slowly worked themselves into mid-season form, but lately a new set of demons has come to rest in the Cougars’ camp. The offense has run into a huge slump, one that is costing UH victories in close games. The Cougars have scored five runs or fewer in each of their last six games, going only 2-4 in that stretch.

UH will try to exorcise these demons when it opens Conference USA play against newcomer Marshall in a three-game weekend home series set to begin at 7 p.m. Friday.

"There has to come a point in time when you just have to go to home plate and say, ‘Hey, I’m just going to go up here, relax and hit the ball hard,'" head coach Rayner Noble said. "Whenever it happens is when it’s going to happen."

In their upcoming series against the Thundering Herd, the Cougars will face a team that has no problem getting the bats going.

"Marshall is a team that can swing the bat, and they’re hitting .352 as a team. Any time someone’s hitting close to .360 as a team, I know they can swing the bat," Noble said. "We’re going to have to continue to pitch like we’ve been pitching and, hopefully, we can somehow produce some runs." 

UH will enter Friday’s game coming off a mind-boggling 3-2 loss to Texas A&M on Tuesday night, a game in which the Cougars racked up 11 hits but stranded 11 baserunners. It was also another frustrating night for junior designated hitter Brad Lincoln, who went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

Lincoln -- the team leader in home runs and RBIs -- has one hit in his last 18 at-bats, and his average has plummeted to .269.

Until Lincoln gets his swing back, he’ll have to help UH on the mound. Lincoln (4-1, 2.17 ERA) is slated to be Friday’s starter, and he’ll be charged with the task of cooling off a hot Marshall lineup. In his last start against San Diego, he picked up a no-decision after tossing 8.1 innings and allowing four runs (two earned) on 11 hits with nine strikeouts.

Marshall (8-7, not including Wednesday’s game against Virginia) will enter town after sweeping Cleveland State in a three-game series that extended the Herd’s winning streak to four games. 

Senior catcher Rich Russell leads the Thundering Herd’s offense with a .435 average with two home runs, 10 RBIs and a .603 on-base percentage. The team’s top slugger is junior infielder Brendan Murphy who is hitting .400 with a team-leading six homers, 27 RBIs and a .855 slugging percentage.

"(The race for the conference crown) starts Friday, and there’s no giving up games or anything. We have got to (win)," junior left fielder Jake Stewart said. "This is just a tough league this year. You can’t lose to teams like Marshall, (a team) we should beat."

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