After dropping two of three games to East Carolina this weekend, the Cougars will hit the road for a five-game road swing, starting with two non-conference games.
The Cougars will start the road trip by taking a two-hour trek up US Highway 59 to take on Stephen F. Austin at 3 p.m. in Nacogdoches.
UH (20-21, 7-5 Conference USA) beat SFA 10-3 earlier this season, but that was when the season was in its infancy.
The Lumberjacks (28-12, 15-6 Southland Conference) have been trending upward recently, winning six out of their last seven games, including Saturday’s 11-6 victory over McNeese State where the Lumberjacks hit a school-record six home runs.
SFA’s power surge has been led by shortstop Hunter Dozier, who has homered in each of the last four games.
Dozier is tied with Bryson Myles for the team lead in homers, but Myles stands alone as the top offensive threat.
Myles leads the Lumberjacks in almost every offensive category and ranks among the NCAA Division-1 leaders in hits (68) and batting average (.420).
Head coach Todd Whitting said that the Cougars are up to the challenge of stopping SFA and that they will be ready to go.
“We’ll go right at their hitters,” Whitting said. “They have had a great year to this point, but the schedules that the two teams play are a little bit different.
“Our team is right around .500, but we’ve played a top ten schedule. We are in third place in what is one of the top five leagues in the country. Although I’m not excited about being right around .500, with the issues that we’ve had this season with injuries and depth, I think that we’re in pretty good shape.”
Codey Morehouse will take the mound for the Cougars and try to put an end to his recent misfortunes. Morehouse has had a string of sub-par outings since his dominate performance over Texas A&M on April 5, where he allowed two runs on five hits while striking out six Aggies.
“I think the season has taken a little bit of a wear and tear on Morehouse,” Whitting said. “Mechanically, he’s fine. Mentally, I think that he’s doing great. I just think that he’s a little tired.”
Morehouse and the Wednesday starter, which is to be determined, may have to pitch long innings. Whitting said that he would prefer to save the bulk of his pitching staff for the weekend when the Cougars get back to their conference schedule.
“I’m not going to sacrifice our weekend pitching for these games on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Whitting said. “Hopefully, we can score a bunch of runs so we don’t have to go to deep into our bullpen.”
The Cougars will face the Lumberjacks at 3 p.m. today at the SFA Baseball Comples.
UH will not have much time to reflect on the outcome of the SFA game, as they have a quick turnaround traveling to face Lamar at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Beaumont.