The No. 20 Cougars will be traveling to face off against No. 10 Baylor. This will be the second consecutive week Houston plays a top 10 team.
The three-game series at Baylor Ballpark in Waco will begin at 6:35 p.m. Friday and at 3:05 p.m. on Saturday; they will finish at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
Junior left-handed pitcher Seth Romero will be starting on Friday. Romero started last Friday against No. 7 Cal State Fullerton, and the Cougars came out with the 7-4 upset. In that game, he struck out 10 for his third straight 10-plus strikeout game.
Romero will lead a Cougar pitching staff that ranks No. 4 in the nation. Compared to Baylor’s 3.10 ERA, Houston’s 1.93 ERA boasts 31 less walks than Baylor with only 20. Baylor, however, has more strikeouts, with 113 strikeouts compared to the Cougars’ 99.
Even with the discrepancy in ERA, going up against Baylor will be a tall task. Baylor is coming into this series with a 12-1 record and hitting .314. Their only loss was against the current No. 7 LSU Tigers. Baylor’s Richard Cunningham leads with a .366 hitting average, and Kameron Esthay is behind him at .340 with 16 runs.
The Cougars are right behind with a .306 hitting average. They’re led by sophomore outfielder Grayson Padgett at .378 with 17 hits and 12 RBI. Junior catcher Connor Wong has also had a prolific offensive season with seven stolen bases, and he leads the team with 14 runs scored. Most impressively, he has reached base in all of the Cougars’ 11 games so far.
Baylor and Houston have met 155 times previously with Baylor owning the all-time record at 88-67. The Cougars, however, won the most recent three-game series in March 2016.