Baseball Closes out Silver Glove Series on Tuesday
5/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2005
HOUSTON - The University of Houston baseball team wraps up the 2005 Sterling Bank Silver Glove Series when they meet crosstown rival and 11th-ranked Rice at 7 p.m., Tuesday at Cougar Field.
UH, which won two of three games at Conference USA rival Charlotte last weekend, looks to avoid the Series sweep after the Owls won the first four games by a combined seven runs.
The Cougars need to build some momentum heading into next week's 2005 C-USA Tournament presented by POWERade at Southern Miss. However, the road will not be an easy one as UH meets the Owls and then plays host to No. 30 Southern Miss starting Thursday to close out the regular season.
Tuesday's game can be heard live on KLVL 1480 AM or over the Internet at www.UHCougars.com with former UH letterwinners Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling all the action. Fans also can follow play-by-play action by clicking on the "Live Stats" link at www.UHCougars.com.
Freshman righthander Aaron Brown makes his fifth straight Tuesday start when he toes the rubber the Owls. This season, Brown has compiled a 1-0 record with 33 strikeouts and a 4.80 ERA in 30.0 innings of work.
In his last start, the Bay City, Texas, native was impressive in front of a national audience on ESPN2 at Texas A&M on May 10. Brown allowed six runs (only three earned) off nine hits while striking out a career-high nine batters in another personal-best 6.2 innings of work. However, he did not pick up a decision as the Aggies rallied late to win the game and the regular-season series against the Cougars.
At 6-feet, 6-inches tall, Brown ranks as the tallest member of the 2005 squad. In fact, he is the tallest player since Bryan Moore measured in at 6-8 during the 1999 season.
Tuesday's game will be Brown's fourth appearance and second start against the Owls in 2005. This season, he has compiled five strikeouts and a 7.94 ERA in 5.2 innings of work. In his last outing against Rice, Brown allowed four runs (three earned) off five hits with five strikeouts in four innings in Game Four of the Series at Reckling Park on April 26. However, he did not pick up a decision as Rice rallied late to take a 10-9 win.
Junior infielder Kevin Roberts leads the Cougars with a .365 batting average and eight home runs and has hit each of the UH's last four home runs. Sophomore shortstop Dustin Kingsbury is tops with 50 RBIs and enters Tuesday's game on a nine-game hitting streak.
For the 34th consecutive season, the Cougars will meet Rice on the baseball diamond. The Owls own a 68-64 (.515) record in the all-time series, which began in 1948 but has been played at least two times every year since 1972. Rice brings a six-game winning streak into Tuesday's game, the longest such streak against the Cougars in the series' history.
This season, Rice won the first four games of the Series by a combined seven runs. The Owls took a pair of one-run victories in 10 innings in each of the first two games before taking a 6-2 win on March 29 at Cougar Field. Rice followed that with another one-run decision, a 10-9 victory at Reckling Park on April 26 to win the Silver Glove Trophy for the fifth consecutive season and the seventh time in the eight-year history of the Silver Glove Series.
This will be the last time that these two teams meet as non-conference rivals. The Owls move into C-USA in time for the 2006 season.
Houston leads the all-time series against the Owls on its home field 38-29 (.567) but Rice has won each of the last four games. In addition, the Cougars are 11-18 (.379) against the Owls at the friendly confines of Cougar Field.
Rice comes into the game with a 36-15 overall record sweeping at Western Athletic Conference rival Nevada last weekend. The Owls come into Tuesday's game on a five-game winning streak and have won 10 of their last 11 contests.
Freshman infielder Joe Savery leads Rice with a .389 batting average, while sophomore Adam Hale is tops with nine home runs. Senior Adam Rodgers paces all Owl players with 44 RBIs.
Head coach Wayne Graham had not announced his probable starter as of Monday evening.
