March 27, 2008

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The University of Houston baseball team looks to continue its winning ways this weekend when it travels to San Diego for a three-game series at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

The Cougars enter the series as winners of nine of their last 11 games, including an 8-5 win over No. 12 Rice on Wednesday at Cougar Field. That win evened the annual Silver Glove Series at a game apiece with a regular-season Conference USA series at Reckling Park in mid-May to decide the winner.

In that game, senior infielder Bryan Pounds went 4-for-5 with a career-best seven RBIs and two home runs, including a grand slam in the seventh inning that gave the Cougars the lead for good.

This season, Pounds has emerged as one of the Cougars' and Conference USA's premier sluggers. The Houston native has compiled a .447 batting average, six home runs and three RBIs to lead the Cougars in all three Triple Crown categories.

Senior outfielder Jake Stewart has been equally impressive in his final collegiate season, racking up a .379 average with a team-high 11 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 18 RBIs.

While Pounds and Stewart have been leading the team at the plate, sophomore southpaw Wes Musick has been dazzling on the mound. The Lufkin native has compiled a 5-0 record with 31 strikeouts and a 1.75 in 36.0 innings to lead the UH pitching staff in all three Triple Crown categories.

The San Diego State series begins at 8 p.m. (CDT), Friday and wraps up with 3 p.m. (CDT) games on both Saturday and Sunday. Fans can hear the game live on UHCougars.com with Jeremy Branham calling the play-by-play action and former UH letterwinner Pat Cauley providing analysis.

Fans also can follow live stats via the Internet by clicking the "Gametracker" link on the UH front page or on the Cougar Baseball schedule page.

For the 10th consecutive season, the Cougars will head west as part of their regular-season schedule. A year ago, the Cougars were swept in a three-game series at No. 22 San Diego during their final non-conference series of the season.

UH's annual western swing began in 1999 when the Cougars squared off at Cal State Fullerton in a three-game series and has been continued every year since.

Here is a breakdown of the Cougars' annual West Coast Trip by year and opponent: 1999, at Cal State Fullerton; 2000, at USC; 2000, at San Diego State; 2002, at Kia Baseball Bash, hosted by Cal State Fullerton; 2003, at Battle at the Beach, hosted by Pepperdine; 2004, at Aztec Invitational at PETCO Park, hosted by San Diego State; 2005, at Long Beach State; 2006, at UC Irvine; 2007, at San Diego and 2008, at San Diego State.

San Diego State (14-10, 5-1 MWC) comes into the game on a three-game winning streak after posting midweek victories over No. 22 UCLA and Harvard. Troy Hanzawa leads the Aztecs with a .363 batting average, while Garrett Green, Nick Romero and Cory Vaughn are tied with four home runs apiece.

Righthander Stephen Strasburg is slated to take the hill in the opener for the Aztecs. This season, Strasburg has compiled a 2-1 record with 38 strikeouts and a 2.97 ERA in 33.1 innings.