Hot off a win against Rice on Wednesday, the Cougars head to San Diego, Calif. to begin a three-game series against San Diego State tonight. The Aztecs have won three consecutive games and are coming off of a two-hit shutout against Harvard on Wednesday.
The Cougars have won 12 of their last 15 games and could make a case for a national ranking with a strong performance in San Diego.
Sophomore pitcher Wes Musick (5-0) will take the mound for Houston in an attempt to keep his perfect record intact. He will have his work cut out for him, as the Aztecs have only lost two games against left-handed pitchers this season.
Musick brings with him a 1.75 ERA, 31 strikeouts over 36 innings pitched and averages just 1.11 base runners per innings pitched. Should he falter, he will have a well-rested bullpen behind him.
"(Having a rested bullpen) helps a lot because we have kind of a shorter staff," freshman pitcher Jared Ray said Wednesday.
"(Our starters have been) giving our relievers a good break and everybody’s healthy and ready to go."
Offensively, the Cougars (16-7) should continue their hot hitting. Houston has a .313 team batting average, which will face-off against an Aztecs pitching staff that has a 4.62 team ERA.
Senior first baseman Bryan Pounds and senior outfielder Jake Stewart have been on a tear this season, leading the team in seven offensive categories.
Stewart, coming off a 3-2 night with two runs and an RBI against Baseball America No. 12 Rice, is batting .379 on the season with 3 homeruns, 18 RBIs and a team leading 11 doubles.
Coming off one of his best performances, Pounds went 4-5 with two home runs and seven RBIs against the Owls, and leads the team in batting average (.447), RBIs (32), home runs (6) and on base percentage (.505). With all of his current success, Pounds can’t wait to get back up to the plate and thinks San Diego is the perfect place to do so.
"I feel good. It’s always a fun place to go and a fun place to play," Pounds said. "Great weather, a great team to play and you can’t beat going to (California)."
The Cougars will open the series 8 p.m. today at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Game 2 will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, with the finale at 3 p.m. Sunday.
