Cougar ace Brad Lincoln is a front-runner for several national awards, and for good reason. While scouts love his stuff on the mound (where he'll likely be drafted in the first round in early June), he's also the designated hitter for the Cougars and has hit 12 home runs this season. When he last took the hill, two weeks ago on the same mound at Reckling Park, he pitched a complete game gem to down the Rice Owls 3-0. On that night, he touched 96 with his fastball and had brilliant control of his devastating curveball. Unfortunately, the radar gun isn't on this afternoon, but through two innings Lincoln looks almost as sharp on the mound. The Pirates staged a two-out rally to net a run in the second, but Lincoln ended the threat by pouncing off the mound and throwing a fastball to first to retire Jay Mattox.

Pirate start Dustin Sasser doesn't carry impressive numbers into the contest, entering the tournament witha 5-6 record and 4.35 ERA. He's been successfully keeping the Cougars on the ground so far, as five of his first six outs have come via groundout. He's already laster longer than he did when the two clubs met in April at East Carolina, where the Cougars roughed him up for six runs in 1 1/3 innings. He hasn't been great (allowing three hits in two innings), but the Pirate defense has been sharp behind him.

I keep waiting for the big crowds to roll into Reckling. Rice averages around 3,000 fans per game (ticket sales, not necessarily fans in the seat), and the Houston draws well at nearby Cougar Field. The announced attendance for the first three sessions has been respectable (between 2,051 and 2,320), but I expected more with two local teams in the field. Hopefully more there will be less empty seats as we advance toward the holiday weekend and the games don't conflict with work/school. I'd estimate about 500 fans on hand at first pitch, mostly wearing Cougar red -- that number should grow as the we progress into the evening and the host Owls take the field against Southern Miss.