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Baseball Set to Open Play at 2008 NCAA College Station Regional
May 29, 2008
Complete Houston Game Notes (May 30, 2008) in PDF Format COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The University of Houston baseball team opens the 2008 NCAA College Station Regional at 12:30 p.m., Friday when it faces No. 2 seed Dallas Baptist at Olsen Field. The Cougars, who will compete in the double-elimination tournament as the No. 3 seed, earned Conference USA's automatic bid to the NCAA postseason after winning the 2008 Entergy C-USA Championship last weekend at Tulane's Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. After losing the second game of the tournament to UAB, the Cougars fought their way through the losers' bracket, sweeping UAB in two games on Saturday before taking a hard-fought 3-2 win over Marshall in the C-USA Championship game. It was the third C-USA Tournament championship for the Cougars in school history but the first since 2000. The Cougars also will compete in the NCAA postseason for the second time during the last three years and the 18th time in school history. If the Cougars win Friday's opener over Dallas Baptist, they face the winner of the No. 1 seed Texas A&M-No. 4 seed UIC game at 6:30 p.m., Saturday in the winner's bracket. If the Cougars lose to Dallas Baptist, they will meet the loser of the Texas A&M-UIC game in the first elimination contest at 12:30 p.m., Saturday. Fans can hear Cougar Baseball games live at UHCougars.com by clicking the appropriate links. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play action while former letterwinner Pat Cauley provides color analysis. Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the Gametracker link. Sophomore southpaw Wes Musick will make his 15th consecutive weekend start this season during the Cougars' opening game. It also will be Musick's 21st consecutive start dating back to 2007. He has not missed a start since sitting out the Rice series on April 13-15, 2007, This season, the Lufkin native has posted an 8-4 record with 79 strikeouts and a 4.08 ERA in 90.1 innings. He leads all Cougar hurlers in wins, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts and is tied for third among all C-USA hurlers with his win total. With his impressive totals, he also ranks among the Top-10 Conference USA leaders in all three pitching Triple Crown categories (win, ERA, strikeouts), making him one of only five players in that exclusive group. Musick ranks 10th in ERA, third in strikeouts and is tied for fourth in wins. In his last start, Musick helped set the tone for the entire 2008 C-USA Championship with a solid start against No. 5 seed East Carolina on May 21 during the first round. He scattered three runs off seven hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 6.2 innings. However, he did not collect a decision as the Cougars rallied to score two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning on the way to a 5-4 win over the Pirates. In his last game, Musick threw 1.1 innings of shutout relief with two walks and a pair of strikeouts during the Cougars' second win over UAB on May 24 during the 2008 Entergy C-USA Championship. He collected the hold against the Blazers in a 3-1 win that propelled the Cougars into the C-USA Championship game against Marshall. It was only the second relief appearance during Musick's career and his first since a one-inning relief stint against Texas State on Feb. 26 at Cougar Field. Friday's game will be Musick's first career game against the Patriots and his first career outing in the NCAA postseason. The Cougars have appeared in 17 NCAA Regionals previously, posting a combined 25-27-1 (.481) record during those games. Combined with UH's berths in the NCAA Super Regionals, UH has compiled a 31-37-1 (.457) all-time record during the NCAA postseason. UH last competed in the NCAA postseason during the 2006 NCAA Norman Regional in Oklahoma. The Cougars dropped a 2-1 decision to Wichita State in the opening round before falling 8-6 to host and No. 1 seed Oklahoma in an elimination game. This weekend's Regional will be the second time that the Cougars have competed in College Station, and few Cougar fans can forget the previous appearance. After falling to Alabama in the first round of the 2003 NCAA College Station Regional, the Cougars reeled off four straight wins, including a pair against host Texas A&M to win their third NCAA regional in a four-year span. The Cougars claimed a 4-2 win over Oral Roberts and gained their revenge over Alabama with a 16-8 thumping in an elimination game. The Cougars then claimed back-to-back 7-6 wins against the host Aggies with the championship game going 10 innings. UH rallied from a 6-2 deficit after seven-and-a-half innings, scoring five runs in the final three frames to upset the Aggies. For the second time in the last three seasons, the Cougars will face Dallas Baptist on the diamond. Dallas Baptist owns a 3-2 (.600) lead in the all-time series, which featured doubleheaders in 1982 and 1983. The Patriots can boast of the most recent success after taking a 7-5 win over the Cougars on Feb. 23, 2007 at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco during the second day of the Southwest Diamond Classic. That win pushed DBU's winning streak over the Cougars to three games, dating back to 1983. The Cougars swept the first doubleheader on April 13, 1982, winning 10-9 and 15-1, in Houston. However, the Patriots rallied a year later to sweep another doubleheader in Houston by 8-7 and 5-3 margins. This weekend's game will be the first time that the Cougars have faced Dallas Baptist in a postseason game. Dallas Baptist (37-17) comes into the Regional as winners of five of their last six games, including a sweep at San Francisco on May 15-17 to close out the regular season. Those were the last games played for the Patriots, who qualified for the NCAA postseason as an Independent. Junior righthander Jordan Meaker is scheduled to start on the mound for the Patriots. This season, he has posted a 7-1 record with 58 strikeouts and a 4.28 ERA in 82.0 innings. Senior outfielder Nick Santos leads the Patriots with a .394 batting average, making him one of seven DBU sluggers with a .300 average or higher. Junior infielder Trevor Head is tops with 15 homeruns, while junior utility player Evan Bigley leads the way with 58 RBIs.
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