Baseball

UH tries to silence Herd

Catcher M.P. Cokinos and the Cougars will try to remain in the four-way deadlock for first place in Conference USA with a three-game series against Marshall, the worst team in the conference. UH is 7-11 in tilts played away from Cougar Field. | Aaron Cisneros/The Daily Cougar

UH will rack up some frequent flyer miles this weekend when they take their longest trip of the season to challenge Marshall in Charleston, W. Va.

After dropping a mid-week contest against Sam Houston State, the Cougars will get back into conference play this week with a three game series against Marshall. The team has its sights set on remaining on top of Conference USA.

“Our expectations are really high,” head coach Todd Whitting said. “Right now we’re 4-2 in C-USA. We’re at the top of the standings and we just have to keep on doing well in league play. If we do well in league play, everything will take care of itself.”

Change is good

The Cougars’ coaching staff has been tinkering with the lineup and has inserted players that have not received extensive playing time. In Sunday’s win against UAB, the lineup was altered and the team responded by scoring eight runs and recording nine hits.

Whitting said that there still might be more adjustments to be made to the lineup.

“We’ll talk about it as a coaching staff the rest of the week,” Whitting said.

“With the depth issues that we have, there really are not a whole lot of options. We’ll see how we do in practice.”

Despite the lack of recent offensive production, the Cougars (17-18, 4-2 C-USA) have players that rank among the top of the league for their offensive prowess.

Chase Jensen is third in C-USA with 49 hits, only two behind the league leader, and is tied for second with 33 RBIs.

Leading the conference in RBIs is M.P. Cokinos with 34. Cokinos is also fifth in C-USA with 11 doubles.

Cellar dweller Marshall (11-18, 1-5 C-USA) has not fared well in conference play so far this season.

The Thundering Herd are led offensively by second baseman Victor Ramos and power-hitting catcher Rhett Stafford.

Ramos leads the team with 35 hits, nine doubles and three triples.

Stafford leads the team with 20 RBIs, four home runs and a .478 slugging percentage.

This weekend’s games may not be the prettiest games to watch as both teams rank as the bottom two in C-USA for team pitching and team defense. The Cougars lead the conference with 55 errors.

UH went 3-1 against Marshall last season. The Cougars hold the all-time series lead against Marshall 15-3.

The series begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at Appalachian Power Park. Game two is at 6 p.m. Saturday and the series will end at 10 a.m. Sunday.

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