Baseball: Previewing the Cougars

The College of Charleston Cougars (29-12 Overall, 17-7 Southern) are currently in first place in the Southern Conference baseball standings.  The Cougars will travel from the low lands of South Carolina to Cullowhee on Friday to meet the fifth place Catamounts in a crucial series for both teams. The ASU Mountaineers are currently just one game behind the Cougars in the conference standings, but with a 13-5 conference record, actually have a higher conference win percentage than CoC.

Since the Cougars joined the SoCon, the Cats are just 14-34 against Charleston on the diamond.  The Cougars are currently own a 4 game winning streak against the Cats, going back to last season when the two team met four times, with the Cougars sweeping all four.  Last season the Cougars swept the series played in Charleston last April, then eliminated the Catamounts in the conference tournament.  Along with their 20-12 record, the Cougars will bring an RPI of 33 and travel record of 11-6.  

Charleston's pitcher Christian Powell has been named to the watch list for the Pitcher of the Year, and he leads the SoCon with an ERA of 2.20 and a record of 7-2. Powell leads a CofC pitching staff that ranks fifth in the nation in ERA (2.74) and fifth in the country in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.24). Powell's teammate, David Peterson, was selected for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year watch list.

The Cougars own season sweeps this year against Furman, Wofford, Davidson, & the Citadel, and have series losses (1-2) against Elon, GSU, & ASU.