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Sports

Thrill never goes for these foes

UH and Rice set to battle for the Silver Glove Trophy

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar

The excitement of playing Rice every season never wanes for UH senior infielder Dustin Kingsbury. The disappointment of continuously falling short to the Owls, however, can't go away quickly enough.

Since Kingsbury began his UH career in 2004, the Cougars have experienced that disappointment more than enough times, having dropped seven of their last 10 meetings with their crosstown rival. The Cougars have also endured a lengthy stretch of six straight seasons without capturing the Silver Glove Trophy, which has been awarded to the winner of the Rice-UH series since 1998.

But despite the long list of failures against the Owls, the rivalry remains as fierce as ever for Kingsbury and teammates. They'll be up for the challenge when the two teams kick off a three-game series this weekend at Cougar Field, starting with the opener at 7 p.m. Friday night.

"Even thought it's not on that level, (our rivalry) is like that (between) the Yankees and the Red Sox," Kingsbury said. "We're all friends, I guess, because we grew up together, but it's a rivalry and there's so much passion, and even on the field, almost a hatred of each other's teams. (Those games) are the most fun to play in."

Like UH, Rice (27-10, 8-1 Conference USA) lost quite a few familiar faces from last season's squad. But the Owls, ranked No. 7 in this week's Baseball America poll, shouldn't complain about their situation considering they returned 18 lettermen and brought in a talented crop of newcomers.

Freshman pitcher Ryan Berry may be the best of the latter group. The right-hander is quickly becoming one of the stars of the Rice pitching staff, having compiled a 5-1 record with a 2.58 ERA after 12 appearances (10 starts).

Berry, who Monday was named C-USA Pitcher of the Week, will get his first crack at the Cougars in Friday's opener.

"Rice's pitchers are always good and always find a way to shut down (opposing) offenses, but I think we have an overall better hitting team than we had last year," said UH senior first baseman Josh Stirneman, who is second on the team with a .331 batting average. "Last year we had (Brad) Lincoln and (Matt) Weston hitting the major bombs, but maybe three or four guys hitting over .300.

"This year, our entire lineup can hit. We have guys in the No. 9 hole that can hit .300 plus. There are no weak spots in our lineup."

The Cougars will counter Berry with junior Aaron Brown (4-2, 4.62 ERA). The right-hander struggled mightily in his last start against Alabama-Birmingham on Apr. 6, giving up six runs on 10 hits and five walks in only four innings of work. 

Brown has shown flashes of dominance this season mixed with stretches of inefficiency. He'll certainly need to have better command of his pitches against the Owls. 

Rice currently sits atop C-USA, but the Cougars (18-14, 5-1 C-USA) are only a game and a half behind in second place. 

Winning this series would be a confidence booster for the Cougars, who have struggled to find consistency this season.

"Playing at home would be a bit of an advantage for us, (but) I think we're at a disadvantage because of where we're at with the state of this team," UH head coach Rayner Noble said. "We've been scrapping along and doing the very best we can with what we have. Hopefully, that'll be good enough to get the job done against Rice."

UH-Rice series notes

Rice coach Wayne Graham has a 50-22 record against Houston…UH freshman left-hander Wes Musick will probably not pitch this weekend because of soreness in his throwing arm. Freshman John Touchton will start Saturday in place of Musick, and following that game, Noble will decide on a Sunday starter…UH junior right-hander Ricky Hargrove, who has yet to pitch this season because of soreness in his throwing shoulder, tossed a bullpen session during Wednesday's practice. According to Noble, Hargrove "was throwing as hard as I've seen him throw in a long time."

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