Columbia Pays Visit To Houston For Three Games

Friday, March 18

Houston, Texas

7:30 P.M.

Columbia University

Houston

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Steve Simoneau

3/17/2022 4:48:00 PM | Baseball

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Columbia Baseball will play at Houston in a three-game weekend series starting on Friday, Mar. 18 at 7:30 p.m. EST.

HOUSTON — In the final weekend in Texas, Columbia Baseball (4-8, 0-0 IVY) will visit the Houston Cougars (11-6, 0-0 AAC) for a three-game series starting on Friday, Mar. 18 at 7:30 p.m. EST and wrapping up on Sunday, Mar. 20 at 1 p.m. EST with all three games taking place at Schroeder Park.

HOW TO WATCH/FOLLOW
GM1: at Houston (7:30 p.m. EST) – Live Stats | Listen | Watch (ESPN+) | Social Media (@culionsbaseball)
GM2: at Houston (7:30 p.m. EST) – Live Stats | Listen | Watch (ESPN+) | Social Media (@culionsbaseball)
GM3: at Houston (1 p.m. EST) – Live Stats | Listen | Watch (ESPN+) | Social Media (@culionsbaseball)

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS:
GM1: Sean Higgins (RHP/COL) – Logan Clayton (RHP/HOU)
GM2: Joe Sheets (RHP/COL) – Nathan Medrano (RHP/HOU)
GM3: Billy Black (RHP/COL) – Jaycob Deese (RHP/HOU)

LAST TIME OUT: The Lions enter the weekend at Houston having dropped its last three games, including two midweek games. They fell at McNeese (7-2) on Mar. 15 and lost 5-3 at Incarnate Word (Mar. 16)

SERIES MATCHUP: The Lions and Cougars have faced off six times before, the Houston holding a 4-2 advantage. The last meeting came in 2018, where the Lions snagged a 12-7 win in the opening game of a three-game series at Houston and all six games have been hosted by Houston.

WHAT THE COUGARS BRING: Houston's last game was a midweek 8-2 victory over Texas A&M (Mar. 15). The previous weekend saw Houston travel to Louisiana to face the Ragin' Cajuns, dropping two out of three games over the weekend in Lafayette, Louisiana. Houston has played one game, which was a loss (10-0), against a ranked opponent (No. 8 TCU).

MADRIGAL IS LIGHTS OUT: Over his last three outings, RHP Brandon Madrigal has been lights out, providing the Lions with solid pitching out of the pen. Over his last three outings, he has gone 7.0 IP giving up 0 ER and only 3 H.

BACK IN TEXAS: Columbia has been to Texas before, but it's the first time since 2018 that the Lions have visited the Lone Star State. All-time this will be the sixth time the Lions have swung through the state with the Lions heading on to face Incarnate Word (Mar. 16) and Houston (Mar. 18-20).

Baylor will be the ninth team from Texas the Lions have ever faced. Columbia has battled with Houston, Lamar, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas A&M CC, UT Arlington, UT San Antonio and Texas Tech.

BURSTING OUT: Columbia exploded for 11 runs, 10 unanswered, in its 11-4 win over Baylor in the second half of a doubleheader. They were the most runs scored by a Lions team since scoring 15 at Army on May 1, 2019.

KNOCKING OFF THE BIG12: Columbia's 11-4 win over Baylor was not just Columbia's first win over Baylor in program history, it was the first win over a BIG12 program in the long history of Columbia Baseball.

SOLO SPEED: In the final game of the three-game series at Baylor, Joshua Solomon was on his giddy-up, collecting a career-high three stolen bases. Including snagging two in one inning when he stole second and third in the top of the 10th inning.

SPEEDY LIONS: Columbia was active on the base paths over the weekend in Waco, stealing eight bags, while only getting caught once. They swiped five bags in Sunday's series finale and three in the 11-4 Saturday night win.

FLASHING THE LEATHER: In the three games in Waco, Columbia's defense was a strong part of their game, committing just one error over the weekend. As a team, they are out fielding their opponents by a clip of .974 to .970.

DEFENSIVE LIONS: Davidson averaged 5.8 runs per game, but over the four-game series against Columbia, the Wildcats could only average 4.8 runs per game.

LIONS HIT DINGERS: Over the weekend of Mar. 4-6 at Davidson, Columbia crushed five home runs en route to splitting the four-game series. The Lions got one in the first game of Saturday's DH, and followed that up with two dingers in the second game of the DH and two more in the final game of the weekend.

Columbia got a pair from Andy Blake and Joshua Solomon, along with Skye Selinsky. It's the first time since 2019 (at Cornell) that Columbia has had back-to-back games with at least two home runs.

HOMECOMING: Columbia Head Coach Brett Boretti returned to his old stomping grounds when the Lions visited Davidson. A 1994 graduate from Davidson, Boretti was a two-time First Team All-Southern Conference honoree and was inducted into the Davidson Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2010.

MILESTONES AHEAD: Brett Boretti reached the 400-win plateau last season and his 298 wins with the Lions are second all-time, with Boretti making the move up from third in Columbia's weekend at Davidson. Boretti now sits two wins away from 300 career wins with Columbia, becoming only the second coach to ever reach that mark.

Boretti's 168 Ivy League wins and .596 winning percentage in conference play are both program benchmarks.

FINALLY BACK: The Lions last took to the field on Mar. 8, 2020 in the final game of a four game series they played at Nebraska. When they take the field at Stetson, it will be the first time they have played in 719 days.

"It was good to get everyone back in the fall," said head coach Brett Boretti. "The team has had great leadership over the past two years and there is a lot of anticipation ahead of opening day to get back on the field.

"It's part one of the season, as we try and figure out what everyone's rolls are and what are best lineups are. We've got a lot of new guys, but this opening weekend will be a great test to see what we have versatility wise."

PRESEASON PICKS: Columbia was picked to finish second in the Ivy League preseason poll. The Lions, who tied with Yale for the most first-place votes at five, finished six points ahead of Penn, who were picked to finish third.

2022 Ivy League Baseball Preseason Poll (First Place Votes)
1. Yale – 107 (5)
2. Columbia – 102 (5)
3. Penn – 96 (4)
4. Harvard – 92 (2)
5. Dartmouth – 72
6. Princeton – 47
7. Brown – 35
8. Cornell –25

DID YOU KNOW: Every student-athlete that has played for head coach Brett Boretti's in his 17-year tenure, and remained on Columbia's roster for at least three years, has either won a conference title or competed in an Ivy League Playoff Series.

LIONS IN THE PROS: Columbia currently has one player in the professional ranks as Josh Simpson '19CC, a left-handed pitcher who was drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2019, remains in their system having spent time pitching as high as Single-A ball.

FOLLOWING THE LIONS: Stay up to date on all things Columbia Baseball by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsBaseball), Instagram (@culionsbaseball) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).