Houston
Record: 31-19 overall, 11-10 AAC
RPI: 36
At one point early in conference play the Cougars were 11-11 and had RPI as high as 140. UH has overcome the slow start, going 20-11 since and has quality wins over projected NCAA teams Texas A&M, Dallas Baptist (two), Sam Houston State (three) and ECU (one).
“Just kept working,” Whitting said of the turnaround. “Veteran players at that time, a lot of them weren’t having very good years. They’ve been here long enough to trust the culture, trust the process, and if you do that the wins will show up. Over the last month or so I think we’ve been one of the better teams in the country.”
Whitting credited the pitching staff for being the “backbone” of the team all season. The Cougars have been especially tough out of the bullpen with the trio of Sean Bretz, Devon Roedahl and Fred Villarreal.
After a Tuesday game against Rice in Sugar Land, the Cougars wrap up the regular season with a three-game series at Central Florida.