Weekly Release

It was a great second weekend of the baseball season for teams across the American Athletic Conference, with teams riding a number of strong individual performances to post an excellent 22-6 mark.
 
Houston and USF top The American standings as each rode 4-0 weeks to a 7-0 overall record. The Cougars have been buoyed by remarkable pitching, with a league best 0.84 ERA, 58 strikeouts, 0.70 WHIP, and four shutouts. Through 64 innings, Houston has allowed runs in just four frames, with opponents hitting just .168. Their bullpen was particularly spectacular in the past week, pitching 15.2 scoreless innings. Saturday’s game against Michigan went scoreless into the tenth inning, with the Cougars walking off with a 1-0 victory after executing a squeeze bunt to plate the game’s only run.
 
USF swept Penn State over the weekend to stay unbeaten, plating 36 runs over three games. In contrast to the league’s other undefeated squad, the Bulls are doing major damage at the plate. USF has the best batting average (.338), on-base percentage (.412), total bases (119), hits (89) and runs (66) in the league thus far. Five Bulls’ starters are hitting over .300 on the year, led by Michael Arencibia (.526), Kyle Teaf (.423) and Luke Maglich (.419).
 
Memphis sits at 6-1, earning the league’s first top-ten victory with a midweek win over No. 7/4 Mississippi State and then winning a series at Samford. That 6-1 record is the Tigers’ best start to a season since the 2007 campaign.
 
Louisville and UCF share 5-2 records. The Cardinals have blasted seven home runs, most in the league, including a pair of three-run jacks from American Player of the Week Zach Lucas. Kyle Funkhouser was one of the pitching stars of the week, allowing just two hits in seven shutout innings with a career-best 10 strikeouts.
 
The Knights picked up a pair of good wins against Oklahoma and The Citadel to halt a brief two-game losing streak. The losses were tough, against a ranked foe in No. 23/20 Florida and in 13 innings against Ohio State. UCF closed strong in front of their home fans to add two wins.
 
The other four teams in The American all picked up their first wins of the season over the past week. UConn rebounded from a tough opening week with three straight wins at the Baseball at the Beach Tournament, beating Wichita State, George Mason, and Illinois. Two first-year head coaches got their first wins, with Cincinatti’s Ty Neal besting Wake Forest and Missouri, and Rutgers’ Joe Litterio sweeping a doubleheader at Jacksonville. And after weather delayed the opening of the Temple season, the Owls knocked off Rider in their first game of the year.
 
What They’re Saying
“For us to go on the road and beat an ACC and a SEC club is good for our program. My goal for our club is to have every single guy locked in on every single pitch. This will help us execute our plan and allow those not playing to learn the game.”
Cincinnati Head Coach Ty Neal, on the weekend that included his first two wins as Bearcats head coach.

“They have pride and they don’t want to lose. As long as they keep that attitude and stay positive they’re going to be a pretty good ball club. They have to stay positive and continue to get better.”
USF Head Coach Lelo Prado on his team’s 7-0 start. The Bulls are off to their best start since the 1982 season.

This Week
There are six midweek games upcoming with games on Tuesday and Wednesday. The weekend has a full slate of games, highlighted by a strong field at the Houston College Classic, played at Minute Maid Park, and Cincinnati making two appearances on ESPN3 against Virginia Tech.