One of the things I was looking forward to most this weekend was seeing Baylor’s highly touted freshmen in action, and so far I’ve been disappointed. Slugger Dustin Dickerson did not get the start, though he should get some time at DH this weekend. He appeared as a pinch-runner in the seventh inning and remained in the game at first base, flying out to left in his only at-bat. Right fielder Aaron Miller struck out chasing breaking balls in the dirt in his first two collegiate at-bats, then reached on an error on a ground ball to second. He did single and score Baylor’s second run in the eighth. And righthander Kendal Volz, the third Baylor freshman to rank among the 20 best in the nation, got hit around in Houston’s three-run fourth inning. After inducing a meek ground ball back to the pitcher to start the inning, Volz allowed the next five batters to reach base on a walk and four straight hard-hit singles. He struck out Luis Flores to end the threat, but the damage was done.

Houston, on the other hand, got solid pitching from righthander Aaron Brown, who has replaced the injured Ricky Hargrove as the Cougars’ Friday night starter. He allowed just one hit over five scoreless innings, striking out four and walking three. With a projectable 6-foot-6 frame and a clean delivery, Brown has touched 95 mph in the past, but he topped out around 91 Friday and mixed in a nice breaking ball.