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Sports

Cougars ready to start ‘06 vs. UTSA

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar

Heading into the 2006 season, the UH baseball team has one main goal on its slate: to return to the postseason after missing out in the previous two seasons. The Cougars will keep this goal in mind when they host Texas-San Antonio in the season opener at 2 p.m. today at Cougar Field.

"Starting the season and being here at home is always exciting," head coach Rayner Noble said. "It's been a long time since we've opened our season at home, so that's going to make it even better. I'm looking forward to getting the guys out there and playing somebody other than ourselves. It seems like we've been going at it forever."

Noble said he thinks that the Cougars will be good competitors for UTSA.

"I think we've got a pretty good ball club and we're going to pitch (UTSA) pretty well," Noble said. "If we can get some of our younger players to play above average, I think it's going to help us to become even better." 

UH will send junior right-hander Brad Lincoln to the mound for the start. Last season, Lincoln posted a 4-7 record with a team-leading 106 strikeouts and a 4.76 ERA in 102 innings of work, becoming the seventh player in school history to register 100 or more strikeouts in a single-season. In late January, he was one of the 40 players named to the 2006 Roger Clemens Award Preliminary Watch List. 

In addition to his pitching duties, Lincoln is also one of the Cougars' best returning offensive players after recording a .337 batting average with seven home runs and 52 RBIs in 2005. He is expected to bat in the cleanup slot of the lineup for today's game. 

"We'll probably throw Brad five or six innings and take it from there," Noble said.

Lincoln will have his hands full with a UTSA squad that finished 27-34 in 2005 and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Southland Conference Tournament, and the Roadrunners were picked to finish fifth in the 2006 SLC Pre-Season polls. 

Led by sixth-year skipper Sherman Corbett, UTSA returns sixteen letter-winners and welcomes fourteen newcomers. 

Headlining the returnees is junior third baseman Ryan Saltzgaber, a preseason first-team All-SLC selection. A year ago, Saltzgaber hit .288 with four home runs and 30 runs batted in. Second baseman J.R. Voyles and pitcher Steven Vasquez were named to the preseason All-SLC second team. Last season, Voyles was second on the team with a .308 batting average with six home runs and 34 runs batted in, and Vasquez was 4-2 with a 4.05 ERA in 53.1 innings of work.

"I think (UTSA) lost a few players off that team, so they'll have some new faces," Noble said. "Their best pitcher is back, and that's who we'll see today; so we're going to have to be sharp and play well in order to come out victorious."

Noble plans to make a few changes to his lineup by making freshman Travis Cougot shortstop and freshman Luis Flores catcher. 

Junior Dustin Kingsbury will start at third base after having played shortstop last season, and senior Isa Garcia, a transfer from Sam Houston State, will be at second base. 

The batting order has the main fixtures in the middle of the order. Garcia will be the third batter, followed by Lincoln and then Kingsbury in the fifth slot. Last season, Kingsbury was third on the team with a .341 batting average with six home runs and 58 runs batted in. While at SHSU in 2005, Garcia slugged 15 home runs and drove in 52 runs.

Admission to today's game is free to all UH students who show their student ID upon entrance.

Send comments to dcsports@mail.uh.edu