Oct. 10, 2008

HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team will hold a fall scrimmage Saturday at Cougar Field as part of the team's month-long fall practice schedule.

The Cougars will play Alvin Community College in the scrimmage slated to begin at noon and will last approximately 14 innings. The team will hold batting practice at 10 a.m. prior to the game.

The practice and scrimmage are open to fans.

After practicing for over a week and holding multiple intrasquad scrimmages, the Cougars are looking forward to facing a different opponent Saturday.

"It's always a good thing to compete in the fall," head coach Rayner Noble say. "After a while you kind of get stale playing each other, which I am sure will happen, but at least we get to sprinkle in a couple of opponents and break up the monotony of playing against ourselves so much."

Another benefit of playing a different opponent is the chance for the Cougar baseball staff to bring another competitive angle to the fall schedule.

"The good thing about playing outside competition is that you get a little bit of a different competitive slant to it. That's what I am looking forward to," Noble said.

UH will continue its weekday practices, which are set to begin at 2:30 p.m. and are closed to the public, while weekend practices are open to all fans. On Oct. 18, the Cougars will play a final fall game against San Jacinto College at noon.

The fall practice schedule will culminate on Nov. 8 when the 2008 Cougar Baseball team receives their 2008 Conference USA Championship rings and will be honored at the Houston football game against Tulane.

The Cougars open the 2009 season on Feb. 20-22 when they plays host to Kansas State in a weekend, non-conference series at Cougar Field. The series begins at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 20, continues at 4 p.m. on Feb. 21 and will wrap up at noon on Feb. 22.