May 5, 2008

HOUSTON - University of Houston freshman closer Chase Dempsay was honored Monday as the Conference USA Pitcher of the Week after helping lead the Cougars to four wins.

In four games last week, Dempsay earned a win and two saves. The Baytown native threw a combined 7.2 innings of shutout ball allowing just three hits while striking out five with three walks.

After tossing a shutout ninth inning at Lamar on April 30, Dempsay set a UH freshman record with his seventh save, moving past Robert Dieudonne's record that had stood for more than a decade.

He added to that total during the series opener against C-USA rival Memphis with another shutout frame.

During the series finale against Memphis on Sunday, he collected his fifth win of the season after getting the Cougars out of a seventh-inning jam and throwing 2.2 innings of shutout ball with only one hit and a pair of strikeouts.

Dempsay is the only pitcher in the league to rank among the Top-10 individual leaders in both saves and wins. With five wins to date, he is only two victories from the UH freshman record of seven, set by former Major League hurler Shane Nance.

It was the second time in a three-week stretch that a Cougar hurler received the award. Sophomore righthander John Touchton picked up his first weekly accolade on April 21.

Southern Miss' James Ewing was recognized as the C-USA Hitter of the Week.

Dempsay and his Cougar teammates return to action at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday when they play host to Lamar during their final non-conference home game of the season. The Cougars will be looking to sweep the regular-season series after enjoying a 3-2 win a week ago in Beaumont.

Fans can hear Cougar Baseball games live at UHCougars.com by clicking the appropriate links. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play action while former letterwinner Pat Cauley provides color analysis.

Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the Gametracker link.