Houston Baseball Releases Starting Rotation For UTRGV Series
The Cougars started the season off right by collecting four-straight victories to win the Puerto Rico Challenge last weekend.
The team defeated No. 21 Wake Forest, Boston College, Manhattan and Washington to begin the season 4-0.
Now, the Cougars will face UTRGV in a three-game series, and their starting pitchers will be heavily relied upon over the weekend.
Houston Faces UTRGV In Weekend Series
The Cougars' first game is on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at home. Senior pitcher Paul Schmitz will get the nod in game one as Houston looks to continue its undefeated season.
So far this season, Schmitz has thrown one game, and it was a gem. He threw four scoreless innings against No. 21 Wake Forest, and his dominant start helped lead the Cougars to an upset victory.
By allowing no runs on two hits and recording two strikeouts, Houston's ace earned the win. Now, he will be much needed tonight against UTRGV's ace Sergio Lopez.
Sophomore pitcher Kendall Hoffman will get Saturday's start at 4:30 p.m., and head coach Todd Whitting has a lot of trust in his young starter.
He made his season debut in Puerto Rico against Boston College, and his performance helped the Cougars walk away with a 5-1 victory.
Hoffman tossed 4.1 innings, allowing just three hits and an unearned run for his first start.
Junior pitcher Richie Roman will close the weekend series against the Vaqueros in Sunday's matchup at 1 p.m.
He was electric in his first start of the season, defeating Manhattan 4-2, which extended the Cougars' win-streak to three games in Puerto Rico.
He threw five innings and allowed one earned run on four hits. He also allowed only one walk while striking out five batters.
The three starting pitchers for this weekend have given up a combined one earned run this season, and the Cougars will win a lot of games if they continue this level of performance.
Houston will look to extend its win streak against a struggling UTRGV squad, which is just 1-3 on the season.
After collecting a 7-4 opening day victory against Kansas, the Vaqueros have lost three-straight games, including a 21-12 blowout loss to Texas Tech in their last contest.
Overall, Houston baseball has started the season a perfect 4-0, and the vibes around the team are high this year.
With the offense not yet finding its groove to begin the year, the starting pitchers will once again need to set the tone to continue Houston's hot start.
Ashton Grissom is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He is currently a senior at the University of Houston and majoring in Sports Media Production with a minor in Marketing and Spanish. He also works for two student organizations: The Cougar and CoogTV. You can find Grissom on his Instagram (@ashtonagrissom8) or Twitter (@ashtongrissom8).