PREVIEW: Houston Hosts McNeese in Midweek

HOUSTON – The fourth game of an eight-game home stand for the Houston baseball team pits the Cougars against the McNeese Cowboys in a Wednesday night showdown at Schroeder Park at 6:30 p.m.

HOUSTON (22-22) vs McNeese (21-21)
Date \| Time	Wednesday, May 1 at 6:30 p.m.
Opponents	McNeese (21-21)
Location	Schroeder Park \| Houston, Texas
Watch	Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Listen	The Varsity Network \| Jeremy Branham
Live Stats	UHStats.com
Game Notes	Houston \| McNeese
Media Center	Notes, media guide/record book, rosters, box scores, photos
Promotions	Check out all the fun at the ballpark

THE MATCHUP

The Cougars hit two home runs that accounted for five total runs in the last meeting against the Cowboys.
Houston scored the first eight runs of the game after junior Cameron Nickens hit a two-run homer, senior Anthony Tulimero hit a three-run home run and senior Justin Murray hit a two-run double and Ian McMillan hit a sac fly in the 2023 meeting.
Junior Cade Citelli threw a one-hitter with a career-high eight strikeouts over 5.0 innings in the start in the 2023 meeting.
Houston is 13-5 against McNeese in the Todd Whitting era.

QUICK HITTERS

Right fielder Cary Arbolida ranks second in Big 12 play in both home runs (seven) and slugging percentage (.811).
Arbolida has hit multiple home runs in three different games this season (vs Texas, 4/12; 2x vs UT Arlington, 4/26 & 4/28).
The Cougars have scored five or more runs in 13 games this month and have hit multipe home runs in 12 games during April.
Left fielder Ace Reese recorded his first-career three-hit game at Texas A&M with two opposite field hits including an opposite field home run. Reese is now third among Big 12 Conference freshmen in homers (six).
The Cougars have scored 20+ runs in two games this year after beating Southern 25-0 on Wednesday. It marks the first time Houston has scored 20+ in multiple games in the same season.
Houston hit more home runs in the month of April (37) than it did in both February and March combined (26). Houston averaged 2.18 home runs per game across 17 games in April compared to 0.96 in February and March, combined, across 16 games.
The Cougars are on pace to hit 81 home runs in 2024, two off the single-season program record 83 hit in 1986 (aluminum bats vs BBCOR bats).
Three different Cougars have hit 10+ home runs in 2024, marking the third-straight year a trio of Cougars have hit 10+ homers in the same season.
Houston is on pace to hit more home runs then its opponents for the first time in a full season since 2019. The Cougars pitchers have given up just 36 home runs in 2024 while hitting 64 thus far.
The Cougars pitching staff is on pace for the second-most strikeouts in a single season with 576 thanks to their 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings pace. The school record 605 was set in 2003 over 598.1 innings (9.1 strikeouts per nine) in which Houston played a school record 67 games.
Houston's 10.3 strikeouts per game is on pace to break the 2003 record of 9.1 by over a full strikeout per game.
Freshman Anthony Avalos recorded his first-career hit on a pinch-hit two-run home run at #1 Texas A&M on Tuesday.
Baseball America highlighted Cary Arbolida in its Week 11 Standouts College Hot Sheet after going 7-for-17 with four home runs and eight RBI against Texas A&M and UT Arlington.
Third baseman Anthoy Tulimero is the first Cougar to eclipse 100 RBI in their Houston career since Ryan Hernandez (107) did so from 2020-22. Tulimero has 139 career RBI from his time at Houston and Kansas.

LAST TIME OUT

Arbolida hit two home runs twice against UT Arlington, powering the Cougars to series opening and closing wins over the Mavericks.
Left-hander Antoine Jean pitched 5.1 innings in back-to-back starts, leading Houston to a series win on Sunday vs UT Arlington.

SERIES HISTORY
Houston record vs McNeese                         54-19
Last meeting                                                            W, 9-3, 3/21/23, Away
Streak                                                                           Houston, W2

BUY TICKETS
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SUPPORT THE COUGARS
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STAY CONNECTED 
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– UHCougars.com –

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Cary Arbolida

Anthony Avalos

Cade Citelli

Antoine Jean

Ian McMillan

Justin Murray

Cameron Nickens

Ace Reese

Anthony Tulimero

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