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Sports

Cougars aiming for postseason spot

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar

Two weeks ago, morale was low in the Houston dugout at Cougar Field after the Cougars dropped their seventh straight Silver Glove Series to crosstown rival Rice. A few games later, the team is abuzz with excitement.

The change in moods is largely a result of Houston's amazing three-game sweep of previously-ranked Conference USA rival Tulane last weekend in New Orleans and its 5-2 victory over Texas-San Antonio on Tuesday night. During their four-game winning streak, the Cougars (23-17, 9-3 C-USA) have looked more like a postseason-caliber team and less like the squad that stumbled out the gate earlier this season.

"It was pretty tough coming off that Rice series, which hurt pretty bad, but we took it to Tulane and that felt really good," sophomore reliever Barry Laird said.

Houston sits comfortably in second place in C-USA, two-and-a-half games behind Rice. But the Cougars should be aware that a potential trap lies around the corner with each remaining weekend of the regular season.

This weekend, that trap could be Marshall, who the Cougars will meet for a three-game series in Charleston, W.V, starting with the opener at 6 p.m. Friday. 

On paper, the Thundering Herd (16-21, 2-9 C-USA) is the second-worst squad in the league and should be a piece of cake for Houston. But don't tell this to the Cougars.

"When you have teams wanting to play hard like Marshall is right now, you have to come out and bring your best game every night," sophomore outfielder Jimmy Cesario said. 

The Cougars still have a shot to overtake Rice for the C-USA regular season title, and with the nation's 47th-highest ratings percentage index (according to (www.boydsworld.com), are in a good position to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"We control our destiny," UH head coach Rayner Noble said. "We've steadily moved ourselves within striking distance to get where we need to be from an RPI standpoint (in order) to slide into an NCAA Regional. If we take care of business against the competition we have coming up, that will all take care of itself."

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