UH struggled Tuesday in a loss against Sam Houston State but will have to quickly shift gears as it faces Cincinnati, which is 9-6, at home this weekend. | Justin Tijerina/ The Daily Cougar
With 15 games remaining in the season, four at home, UH will find itself in the City of Seven Hills to meet Cincinnati for UH’s fifth American Athletic Conference series of the season.
UH, 29-11 overall and 6-6 in conference play, will take on a Cincinnati (15-23; 3-12) team that has struggled as of late.
“I’m excited about this weekend,” said head coach Todd Whitting. “I’m looking forward to getting the team on the road, so we can kind of get together and get away. I love playing at home, but sometimes it’s nice to get away from the distractions at home. I know (the team) is looking forward to the trip.”
UH is 7-2 on the road and will play three games against the Bearcats, who are 9-6 at home. The Cougars hope to continue their path to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., with each conference game becoming more of an audition and tune-up piece for the team goal of a deep postseason run.
“We got a good series win against USF, which was really good for our conference standings,” said sophomore second baseman Josh Vidales. “I think at Cincinnati, we need to go in there confident and ready to take a sweep — we really need to sweep against Cincinnati.”
Vidales’ confidence was echoed by senior first baseman Casey Grayson, who is in the midst of a stellar season by earning American Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors. Beyond that, UH has been striving to go, in Whitting’s words, “above and beyond,” which has been achieved in ways such as sophomore Kyle Survance having already stolen more bases (21) than he had last season.
“We feel good. We lost to Sam Houston, but we’re confident we can go up there and hopefully take care of business. We’re excited,” Grayson said.
The ever-rolling season — which to this point has the Cougars, in Whitting’s eyes, “controlling their own destiny” so far as post-season seeding and play is considered — makes the dwindling number of remaining games seem less intimidating as the season goes on.
“This time of year, the conference games come a little bit more into play,” Whitting said. “But that can’t be something you let freak your team. If there’s a game to play, we’re going to compete and get after it.”
