Through 31 games, the Cougars have been a difficult team to figure out. After upsetting No. 5 Texas A&M on Tuesday, the Cougars fell 5-2 at home to an unranked Lamar on Wednesday. | Newton Liu/The Daily Cougar
The Cougars will continue their conference schedule this weekend as they welcome UAB to Cougar Field for a three-game series.
UH (16-15, 3-0 Conference USA) stumbled in Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to Lamar, but has won four of its last five games, including its first three games of the C-USA schedule.
“Our biggest thing right now is looking too far ahead and not really focusing on the game that we’re playing at the time,” junior infielder and pitcher Matt Creel said. “We weren’t underestimating Lamar, but a lot of us were looking forward to this weekend. We weren’t really worrying as much about the game at hand.
“The coaches always stress taking it one game at a time, going the next 200 feet, but like any plan, you stray from it from time to time. The coaches reminded us after our last game what our focus should be, so I think that we’ll get it back right.”
What has plagued the Cougars thus far is a lack of consistency. The team has had big wins against ranked opponents, but they have lost games that they believe they should have won.
“Until we all understand and play against Lamar and UTSA with the same aggression and passion that we play with against Texas A&M, TCU and Ole Miss, we’re going to stumble,” head coach Todd Whitting said.
“I think that this team has trouble dealing with success.
“The hurdle we’ve got to cross now is that we’ve got to learn that when we win three or four games or win games against big teams, instead of patting ourselves on the back about how great we played the day before, we have to focus on what’s going on today.”
Whitting and Creel believe the Cougars have the ability and talent to succeed but that they must use patience in critical situations.
“I think that we’ve played well,” Whitting said. “Our pitching staff is coming together. Offensively, we seem to always get our hits, it’s just a matter of scoring runs sometimes.”
UAB (16-12, 4-2 C-USA) comes to Cougar Field having lost two games in a row, but prior to those losses they reeled off a four-game winning streak that included a sweep of C-USA foe East Carolina.
UAB is led by center fielder Jamal Austin and third baseman Patrick Palmeiro. Austin leads the Blazers in runs scored (19), hits (44) and batting average (.393). Palmeiro leads the Blazers in slugging percentage (.469), RBI (19), doubles (9) and home runs (3).
The last time the two teams faced each other UH was victorious, extinguishing the Blazers 2-1. The Cougars lead the all-time series against UAB 35-13.
The games start at 6:30 p.m. today at Cougar Field. The Cougars will take the field at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and at 1 p.m. Sunday.
