March 15, 2010
Complete Notebook in PDF Format 
Tulane carries a four-game winning streak into this week as it welcomes No. 19 Kansas to New Orleans for a pair of mid-week games. Houston will put its six-game winning streak on the line this week as it continues its west coast road trip. The Cougars face San Francisco and Cal mid-week before opening a three-game set at No.1 Arizona State on Friday. Rice hosts No. 2 Texas on Tuesday before returning to California for the second time this season with a three-game series at San Diego. Get set for these games and more by reading the updated Conference USA Baseball Notebook.
HITTERS OF THE WEEK
VICTOR GOMEZ, MARSHALL
Junior, C, Miami, Fla.
Gomez went 8-for-14 (.571) with 11 RBI in three games at the Arby's Classic in Knoxville, Tenn., to help the Thundering Herd take two-of-three games in the tournament. The catcher collected three hits, scored three runs and knocked in a trio of runners in a 17-1 upset of No. 17 Ohio State. Gomez laced three hits with a home run and four RBI in a win against Connecticut and a homer and four RBI in a loss to Tennessee. The Miami, Fla. native added seven runs scored and 14 total bases along with a 1.000 slugging percentage on the weekend.
ANTHONY RENDON, RICE
Sophomore, 3B, Houston, Texas
In five games last week, Rendon went 7-for-14 (.500) with four home runs for a 1.357 slugging percentage. Rendon also drew 10 walks for a .708 on-base percentage, drove-in 12 runs, scored nine times and stole two bases in two attempts. On Saturday against Cal he smashed a grand slam as part of a two home run day and finished with eight of his 12 RBI.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
SCOTT COPELAND, SOUTHERN MISS
Junior, RHP, White Oak, Texas
Copeland completely dominated the Missouri State hitters on Saturday, needing only 98 pitches and an hour and 54 minutes for a complete game, three-hit shutout. He retired the final 11 batters and 16 of the last 17 hitters to complete his masterful performance. On the afternoon Copeland rolled 15 ground ball outs, including a double play, while facing only two hitters over the minimum and striking out a career high eight batters, without walking anyone. He allowed only three hits in the game, all ground balls that made it through the infield, and only one runner reached as far as second base.
C-USA NOTEBOOK
EAST CAROLINA
The Pirates finished 1-3 on their road trip to California, ending the trip with a 3-2 win at Pepperdine on Saturday. Junior SS Dustin Harrington extended his current hit streak to 22 games last week. He batted a team-best .438 (7-for-16) with three runs scored, collecting a pair of multiple-hit games. Senior DH Kyle Roller batted .333 (5-for-15) on the trip with a double, a home run, four RBI and two runs scored. He had two hits and two RBI in each of the last two games against Pepperdine to push his career totals to 55 multi-hit and 47 multi-RBI games. Sophomore 3B Corey Thompson continued his hot hitting by batting .357 (5-for-14) with two doubles and an RBI on the Pirates four-game west coast trip. Junior RHP Sthil Sowers has not allowed an earned run in 6.2 innings (three appearances) this season and boasts a 0.00 ERA. He tossed three scoreless innings of relief against Cal State Northridge giving up two hits and striking out three. Junior RHP Seth Simmons closed out his fourth game of the season, picking up the save in the Pirates lone win on the west coast. He worked two scoreless innings of relief giving up a pair of hits and fanning three. Simmons now has 15 career saves which ties him for third place on the school's all-time saves list with Shane Mathews (2004-07).
HOUSTON
The Cougars became the first Conference USA team to sweep a series in California in more than five years when they won three games at Cal Poly over the weekend. The victories increased Houston's winning streak to six games. Junior SS Blake Kelso had five hits, five RBI and five runs scored in the series at Cal Poly, producing at least one of each in all three games. He also had a triple, a home run, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly. Freshman RHP Eric Brooks earned his first collegiate win on Sunday, allowing two earned runs on five hits over 6.1 innings pitched. He struck out three without walking a batter. In Saturday's win, sophomore RHP Mo Wiley picked up his first win of the season, striking out 10 batters in 4.2 innings pitched. Freshman DH M.P. Cokinos homered in back-to-back games and finished the weekend 5-for-10 (.500) with six RBI. Sophomore RHP Michael Goodnight followed up his National Pitcher of the Week performance against Texas by earning the win on Sunday for Houston, going six innings while allowing five hits and two runs with six strikeouts. He improved to 3-1 on the year. Sophomore RHP Matt Creel struck out the side in the ninth inning of Sunday's 5-3 win to pick up his third save of the season.
MARSHALL
The Thundering Herd were 2-1 at the Arby's Classic in Knoxville, Tenn., picking up their first win over a ranked opponent this season with a 17-1 thumping of No. 17 Ohio State on Saturday. It marked the second straight season that Marshall has defeated a nationally-ranked Ohio State team. Junior C Victor Gomez went 8-for-14 (.571), launched two homers, scored seven times, collected 11 RBI, 14 total bases and tallied a 1.000 slugging percentage in the three games. V. Gomez, senior 3B Josh Valle, senior OF Kurt Lipton and sophomore 1B Alfredo Brito each had three hits in the win over OSU. Gomez and Brito knocked in three runs and Lipton launched a three-run homer, his third of the season. Valle had four straight multiple hit games before producing one hit on Sunday against Tennessee. The team total of 19 hits were the most since the MU tallied 16 base knocks vs. Southern Miss on May 2, 2008 and the 17 runs are the most in an outing since 15 runs were scored against Youngstown State (3/15/09) last season. Marshall has scored 10 or more runs in four of its seven victories.
MEMPHIS
The Tigers dropped two-of-three at Dallas Baptist over the weekend. Sophomore 2B Chad Zurcher hit safely in all five games last week, going 8-for-20 (.400) with a double, two RBI and four runs scored. He was 4-for-9 in Saturday's doubleheader sweep at DBU. Zurcher leads Conference USA in stolen bases with nine, while sophomore OF Drew Martinez is tied for second with seven. Junior C Phillip Chapman had an RBI double to left field in the ninth inning to score Jacob Wilson and give the Tigers a 9-8 win in game one. Freshman RHP Dan Langfield made two appearances last week, picking up a win and a loss. He allowed just two earned runs and struck out eight with just one walk in 6.2 combined innings pitched. Senior OF Tyler Huelsing is batting .323 while leading Memphis in doubles (7), triples (2), home runs (2) and RBI (19). Junior LHP Ryan Holland is ranked fourth in C-USA in ERA at 1.86.
RICE
The Owls have now won 10 of their last 13 games. At 10-7 overall, Rice is only a game behind the 2007 and 2008 Owl teams that both started 11-6, and both of whom went on to reach the College World Series in Omaha. Rice's bats came alive in Saturday's game against California. The Owls scored 26 runs, tying for the fifth-highest single game total in school history, on a total of 24 hits that is also one of the top marks in the Rice record books. In the 26-11 victory, 2009 C-USA Player of the Year Anthony Rendon hit a grand slam and a three-run homer on the way to an eight-RBI day. It was the highest RBI total in a nine-inning game by an Owl dating back to 2002. In five total games last week, Rendon hit a total of four home runs and tallied 12 RBI. The Houston native was also walked 10 times, giving him a total of 27 walks in the Blue & Gray's 17 games so far. His on-base average for the season is .605 and his slugging percentage is .787. Rendon now owns a 4.5-to-1 walks-to-strikeouts ratio and his home run total (six) and strikeouts (six) are now dead-even. Rice had some good news with the return to action of senior C/DH Diego Seastrunk in Sunday's win over Cal. Seastrunk had missed the last 12 games with a strained oblique.
SOUTHERN MISS
Southern Miss has won six of its last seven games, including a series sweep over Missouri State this past weekend. Sophomore OF Kameron Brunty hit .500 (6-for-12) against Missouri State with a double, triple, two RBI and two runs scored. He also took a home run away in Sunday's game, jumping high above the fence and bringing the ball back in the yard. Junior RHP Scott Copeland threw a complete game, three-hit shutout in game two of the Missouri State series. He struck out eight and walked no one for his third win of the season. Mark Ellis' walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth capped a three-run bottom of the ninth inning for a 4-3 victory in Friday's series opener vs. Missouri State. The Golden Eagles scored 10 runs in their final two at bats on Sunday in route to a 13-4 win. Southern Miss has scored 10 runs or more in six of the teams 14 games while have 10 or more hits in 10 games. The pitching staff has recorded 107 strikeouts in 14 games while holding opponents to a .234 average and a .302 slugging percentage.
TULANE
The Green Wave swept a four-game series from Towson over the weekend to improve to 10-6 on the season. Freshman OF Brandon Boudreaux posted his first career four-hit game to start the week at UNO and posted at least one hit in each of the five games last week. The freshman walked in all four games of the Green Wave's series with Towson, driving in at least one RBI in three of the four games, and didn't strikeout in 14 at-bats versus the Tigers. Boudreaux reached base safely two or more times in each game last week and is now batting .367 for the season with 11 RBI and 13 runs scored. Freshman SS Garrett Cannizaro has now hit safely in 15 straight games, while sophomore 3B Rob Segedin has extended his streak to 14 games. Cannizaro has reached base in all 16 of his games at Tulane and has scored at least one run in 11 of those contests. Junior RHP Nick Pepitone picked up his second win of the season on Friday evening vs. Towson and in the first game on Saturday he collected his first save of 2010. In 3.2 combined innings, he allowed just one hit and struck out three with only one walk. Sophomore RHP Robby Broach improved to 3-0 on the season on Sunday, allowing one run on four hits over six innings pitched with four strikeouts and one walk. Tulane batters have now produced 10 or more hits in 10 of 16 games this season and is batting .335 as a team (second in C-USA).
UAB
The Blazers opened last week with a 12-1 win over Alabama A&M before falling to four different California opponents at the San Diego State Tournament. Senior IF Luke Stewart was named to the all-tournament team over the weekend after hitting .417 (5-for-12) with one home run and four RBI over four games. Stewart hit his 30th career home run Sunday against Cal State Fullerton to move into a tie for fourth place on the Blazers' all-time homer chart. He is just one long ball away from tying second place on the list. Despite posting 19 fewer hits (123-142) than its opponents this season, UAB has managed to out-score the opposition by four runs (92-88). The Blazers have been able to manufacture runs by drawing 74 walks and stealing 25 bases. Their on-base percentage is the same as their opponents at .369. UAB nearly pulled off a dramatic rally in the first game of the tournament, rallying for six runs in the ninth inning and loading the bases before coming up one run short in an 8-7 loss to San Diego State. The Blazers managed four hits in the ninth, drew two walks and had the benefit of a pair of SDSU errors as they sent 12 batters to the plate.
UCF
The Knights were 2-2 last week, scoring 57 runs in a three-game series victory against Hartford over the weekend. The 57 runs were the most ever scored in three consecutive games against an opponent. UCF tied the school's single-game record with 28 hits in a 24-4 victory on Sunday. It also set another record with 11 runs in the first-inning, marking the most production in a first inning ever. In the three-game series, freshman 3B Chris Taladay went 11-for-14 for a .786 average, followed by Chris Duffy's 8-for-11, three-homer performance. Duffy's hitting streak stretched to seven games, but after going 3-for-3 Sunday, he sat the bench for the final four innings, thus ending his streak of hitting a homer in three-straight outings. Duffy currently leads C-USA in batting average (.500), slugging percentage (1.167), hits (30), doubles (11), home runs (9) and RBI (30). He is tied for the lead with 19 runs scored and has posted a .595 on-base percentage. Taladay is batting .457 with 10 extra-base hits, while starting games at 3B, 1B and DH. Junior DH Derek Luciano's grand slam ignited the 11-run first inning on Sunday and he added another round-tripper later in the game. As a team, the Knights batted .399 last week with 13 doubles and 11 home runs in four games. The Knights have mashed 26 homers this year, with 10 different players recording at least one.
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