May 21, 2007

University of Houston senior first baseman and sophomore outfielder Jimmy Cesario were named to the 2007 Conference USA All-Academic Team as announced by the league office Monday.

Stirneman ranks second on the Cougars in batting average, home runs and RBI and his numbers are even better in C-USA games. He holds a 3.85 GPA in business and posted the highest GPA on the 11-member team. Stirneman is a two-time recipient of the C-USA Academic Medal and is a two-time member of C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll. The senior also was named to the Academic All-District VI First Team and is scheduled to graduate in December.

Cesario has emerged as one of the Cougars' and C-USA's most consistent sluggers. He leads the Cougars and ranks among the league leaders with a .358 batting average and rattled off a 20-game hitting streak earlier in the season, the fifth-longest streak in school history.

In the classroom, the Metairie, La., native has posted a 3.46 cumulative GPA in pre-psychology.

The Cougars were one of four teams to place two student-athletes on the team, joining Memphis, Southern Miss and UCF. League-leading Rice led the way with three members on the team.

To be eligible for the team, student-athletes must have earned a 3.2 cumulative grade point average or better and be a starter of key reserve on their team. Six seniors, four juniors and one sophomore make up the 2007 All-Academic Baseball team.

The Cougars open the 2007 C-USA Baseball Championship at 8 a.m. (CDT), Wednesday when they face No. 5 seed Memphis at Clark-LeClair Stadium on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

The Cougars will then face the winner or loser of the No. 1 seed Rice-No. 8 seed UCF in the second round Thursday. If UH wins its opening game, it meets the winner of the Owls-Knights games at 4 p.m., Thursday. If the Cougars fall to Memphis, they meet the loser of the Rice-UCF game at 9 a.m., Thursday.

Games will continue until the championship game of the tournament on Sunday, May 27. The contest will be televised on a same-day tape delay basis by CSTV and will air at 9:30 p.m. EDT. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.