UH baseball head coach Rayner Noble thinks fate might have something better than last weekend’s setback in store for the Cougars.
The three-games series sweep suffered at the hands of San Diego State dropped the Cougars’ overall record to 16-10, and brought them back down to earth after a victory over then-Baseball America No. 12 Rice on March 26.
Noble, however, keeps a positive outlook.
"It was a tough weekend for us, but it might have come at the right time," he said. "I think things happen for a reason, and hopefully if we have the right mindset, we can use this to our advantage and get ourselves upright again and moving back in the right direction."
Taking two of three games from Conference USA rival Central Florida (22-6, 2-4 C-USA) during this weekend’s series at Cougar Field would be a step in the right direction. Central Florida started the season by winning 19 of its first 20 games and will be a formidable opponent. Fortunately for the Cougars (2-1 C-USA), they don’t have any other games this week and should be well rested heading into this series.
"I think right now we’ve just got to regroup," Noble said. "We’ve got to get our legs back underneath us and get some rest. It was pretty evident that we were dragging around in San Diego, and I could kind of see it coming after an emotional win against Rice."
The Cougars hope junior third baseman Jimmy Cesario will be available to play this weekend after sitting out the San Diego State series with a right wrist sprain. Cesario suffered the injury after sliding into second base against Rice, and his status is day-to-day. Senior infielder Bryan Pounds will fill in at third base until Cesario is cleared to play.
"(Doctors) said with the amount of inflammation there, sometimes it takes about 10 days for some of the minor fractures or anything, if it’s there, to show up," Cesario said. "Right now, I’m just kind of doing the therapy, icing it and things along those lines to try to get back into the lineup."
