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Sports

UH set to invade Aggieland

No. 19 Cougars will look to continue offensive surge in College Station

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar

Newly ranked Collegiate Baseball No. 19 UH is having some fun these days hammering opposing pitchers, but when the Cougars went up against No. 22 Southern Miss over the weekend, they ran across a lineup that struck the same sort of fear into their own pitching staff. The Cougars (24-15, 9-3 Conference USA) proved to be the dominant offensive team in the series, taking two out of three games to remain in second place in C-USA, but their pitching was far from perfect. 

Other than junior right-hander Brad Lincoln, none of the starters went more than five innings, and the bullpen took more than its fair share of licks, particularly in Sunday's series finale when four relievers combined to surrender 10 runs over the final two innings in the 14-7 loss.

The Cougar pitching staff will try to bounce back from its mediocre outing against Southern Miss when UH travels to College Station to face Texas A&M at 7 p.m. tonight. For the Cougars, it will be an opportunity to avenge an earlier 3-2 loss to the Aggies at Cougar Field on March 21.

"I'm concerned a little bit about a couple of guys in that bullpen, namely (sophomore) Aaron Brown," head coach Rayner Noble said. "Aaron is much better than what he's shown, and he knows that. I think he's going to be very integral in how far this team goes this year by what he's able to do for us, either in a starting role or out of that bullpen. 

"We didn't pitch like I thought we could pitch on Sunday. I was really disappointed in our performance." 

The pitching may not have performed as Noble had anticipated, but the hitting was dead on target. Against Southern Miss, the Cougars tallied 44 runs off 59 hits, and a large chunk of that offense came from senior outfielder Matt Weston. 

The slugger continued his stretch of torrid hitting with a monster series at the plate, finishing 7-for-15 with two home runs and seven RBIs. For the week, Weston batted .550 (11-for-20) with three doubles, three home runs, 11 runs scored and 12 RBIs. On Monday, he was named C-USA Hitter of the Week for the second consecutive week, this time sharing the award with Rice's Adam Zornes.

"We're doing a much better job at swinging the bats, and Matt Weston coming alive is one of the big keys to our ball club," Noble said. "He's always had it in him, and it was just a matter of him doing it. He's really picked up the middle of the lineup."

The Cougars will send junior right-hander Shea Hancock to the mound for tonight's start. Hancock (1-1, 3.97 ERA) will be making his first start since Feb. 14 against Stephen F. Austin. In his last outing against McNeese State on Tuesday, he tossed two shutout innings of one-hit ball, helping the Cougars to a 11-1 win.

Texas A&M (19-20, 3-12 Big 12) hasn't enjoyed much success since its last meeting with UH, having lost 11 of its last 15 games. The Aggies are currently on a six-game losing streak, coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of No. 4 Nebraska. Senior shortstop Jose Salazar, who leads the team in batting with a .298 average, was held to a 3-for-12 performance by the Cornhuskers. 

Texas A&M will be the last stop on UH's five-game road trip before the Cougars host Memphis in a three-game series at Cougar Field this weekend.

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