### Houston
I think Houston head coach Todd Whitting said it best, the Cougars just don’t play well at the Shriners tournament for whatever reason. UH struggled in all facets throughout the weekend, and the big key moving forward is the pitching staff. UH had high hopes for Derrick Cherry after fall workouts, but he’s out for the season. Righty Carter Henry is a supremely valuable arm for the Cougars. Yet, he’s banged up right now and has worked just two innings this season. That puts a ton of pressure on guys like righty Freddy Villarreal to go out there and perform. As for the offense, I really like the makeup of this offense. Jared Triolo looked the part over the weekend with some hard contact and is hitting .333 with a home run and seven RBIs, while Joe Davis puts a charge into the ball as usual. The guys I believe will finish the season with significantly higher batting averages are Grayson Padgett (.188), Drew Minter (.174), Tyler Bielamowicz (.171) and Lael Lockhart (.130). All of those guys are talented and much better than their showings thus far.