The Cougars 10 game winning streak is expected to continue against Incarnate Word on Wednesday. | Kennia Martinez/The Cougar
The Cougars are coming home after a series of victories over UC Irvine this past weekend, continuing their 10-game win streak. Houston commanded the series, finishing out a three-game road sweep with a 7-3 defeat Sunday.
Now with a 10 game winning streak, the No. 23 Cougars (18-5) look to compete at home against Incarnate Word (13-12). This will be Houston’s final conference warm-up before the first conference series on the weekend of March 31st against UCF.
Ranked No. 4 in the NCAA, the Cougars maintain a strong pitching staff, with a combined ERA of 2.16. Senior John King pitched three complete games this weekend, which decisively gave Houston the series victory. Fellow pitchers sophomore Trey Cumbie, junior Seth Romero and sophomore Mitch Ullum have been key players in Houston’s dominant pitching record.
The Cougars’ elite pitching staff will go against a team that has a .277 batting average. The Cardinals have lost six of their eight away games and will be facing the Cougars in the midst of a four game losing streak.
Junior shortstop, Jake Scheiner, ranks No. 12 nationally and leads the Cougars with a .438 batting average and 29 RBIs. He has hit nine home runs, which ties him nationally for third.
Junior catcher Connor Wong was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the week as he led the Cougars to the series victory. Wong also leads with a team high of 14 stolen bases, which is tied for No. 4 in NCAA rankings. He is only second to Scheiner in batting averages (.340) and total hits (34).
Houston will have to watch out for Incarnate Word’s Kyler Genenbacher, whose batting average exceeds Wong’s at .386, but has seven less hits than Wong.
The Cougars are looking to beat the Cardinals with their stronger 2.16 ERA and .302 AVG that is comfortably above that of the Cardinal’s 6.33 ERA and .277 AVG.
The game is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park.
