The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers In Houston To Open Conference Play Against Cougars
3/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 19, 2009
HOUSTON, Texas -- The Conference USA slate gets underway Friday as UAB opens a three-game series on the road against Houston.
First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT Friday in a matchup of two teams that met six times a season ago. UAB won two out of three meetings from Houston last year in Birmingham when the Cougars were ranked 19th in the country. The teams then met three times in the 2008 Conference USA tournament with UAB winning the first and Houston taking the final two to even the season series at 3-3.
This weekend's series is slated to continue with game two Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT and game three Sunday at Noon CT.
UAB enters the weekend at 10-7 on the season after having a six-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night with an 8-4 road loss at No. 25 Mississippi State. The Blazers have won seven of their past nine games.
Cody McMurry hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season in Wednesday's loss, and he also tops the Blazers with a .386 batting average and a league-best .807 slugging percentage. McMurry is tied with Digger Towe for team-high honors with 23 RBI.
Towe has logged 17 of those RBI over the past seven games as he has helped to solidify the middle of the Blazer lineup. The junior catcher is coming off Conference USA Hitter of the Week and NCBWA Pro-Line Athletic National Hitter of the Week honors after batting .571 with two home runs, five doubles and 16 RBI in six games last week.
UAB will send junior Beau Pender to the mound to start Friday's series opener against Houston. The right-hander is coming off back-to-back impressive starts against Baylor and Harvard, having allowed just three runs in 11.0 innings with 16 strikeouts over those two outings.
Pender's counterpart Friday will be Houston left-hander Wes Musick. A preseason all-conference selection after a solid 2008 campaign, Musick is looking for his first win of 2009.
Offensively, the Cougars are hitting .273 as a team, led by Blake Kelso at .329. William Kankel owns a team-best 13 RBI, while Zak Presley and Chris Wallace have each homered twice for Houston.
The Cougars are 4-15 this season, coming off an NCAA Regional appearance in 2008. Houston split a pair of midweek games this week, defeating No. 29 Lamar 4-2 on Tuesday and falling 8-1 to Rice Wednesday in a non-conference game.
Friday's meeting will be the 40th all-time between the two programs since Houston joined Conference USA in 1997, with the Cougars owning a 29-10 advantage over the Blazers.
