No. 21 Cougars visit the Don Tuesday - 6:30 PM
3/9/2015 4:10:00 PM | Baseball
HUNTSVILLE -- Riding high after a three-game sweep to open league play, Sam Houston State will host nationally ranked Houston Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The Bearkats and Cougars will complete the home-and-home series in Houston on April 28.
After starting the season 6-0, Houston has dropped seven of the last ten games. The Cougars rallied to beat Hawaii in the finale of the Houston College Classic but had lost four-straight games prior to that.
The Cougars climbed to as high as No. 3 in the national polls during the second week of the season but sit 21st in the PerfectGame.org poll this week.
Second baseman Josh Vidales is Houston's leading hitter with a .352 batting average and 19 hits. The junior is third on the team with 10 RBI.
A pair of newcomers have helped the Cougars offensively. Freshman shortstop Connor Wong leads the team with 14 RBI while junior transfer first baseman Chris Iriart has a team leading four doubles and three home runs.
Pitcher David Longville has made a pair of midweek starts and pitched three times overall for Houston this season. The senior right-hander has a 1-2 record and a 5.40 ERA in 10 innings pitched. Opponents are batting .375 against him.
The Bearkats got back on the winning track last weekend after they had dropped four straight games. Sam Houston opened defense of its three straight Southland titles with a sweep of New Orleans. SHSU outscored UNO a combined 26-6 in the three games.
Dylan Ebbs was a breakout performer at the plate. In four starts as the designated hitter last week he went 8-for-15 with eight RBI and three runs scored. The sophomore two-way player was also the starting pitcher against McNeese and tossed six solid innings but picked up the tough-luck loss.
Senior right fielder Travis Lee has been great at the dish this season. He has started every game and leads the team with 23 hits and 16 runs scored. Lee drove in four runs in the weekend series with New Orleans, upping his season RBI total to seven. He is the only Bearkat to have reached safely in all 16 games this season.
Newcomer Zach Smith had a big weekend against New Orleans. He batted .389 with seven hits and a pair of doubles. He drove in two runs and scored five. Smith has started six of the last seven games at second base and has just one error while mixing in some spectacular plays as well.
This weekend Sam Houston will hit the road for a three-game series at Northwestern State. The Demons took two-of-three from the Bearkats last season in Huntsville.
