TicketsBaseball Splits Twinbill With Winthrop
Contact: Shawn Sell
2/15/2003
Brad Schutz hit his first career grandslam in game one of Saturday's doubleheader |
ROCK HILL, S.C.---Cincinnati overcame a two-run deficit with two out in the top of the ninth inning, but Winthrop pushed across the game winner in the bottom of the frame to score a thrilling 5-4 win in the final game of a four-game set.
Aaron Moll hit a two-run home run with two out in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game at four, but the Eagles produced the winning run in the bottom of the stanza to score their third win of the weekend series. The Bearcats fall to 2-5 on the season.
The Bearcats started off the top of the ninth with a Jake Smith walk, but Justin Niefer promptly lined into a double play that put Cincinnati down to its final out. Chris Leroux came to the mound for Winthrop and hit Jon DeLuca to bring Moll to the plate with two down. Moll crushed a Leroux offering over the left field wall to knot the game at four.
In the bottom of the ninth, Winthrop also rallied with two outs to pull out the win. Kyle Roberson doubled to left off Brad Hunt (0-1) to bring Matt Matkovich to the plate. Matkovich grounded a chopper to third that Mark Muscenti tried to turn into an out at third. But all hands were safe and the Eagles had two runners on. After Hunt intentionally walked Bennett Stapf, Alan Robbins worked Hunt for a walk that forced home the game-winning run. Ryan Chenard earned the win for Winthrop after retiring Steve Pickerell for the final out of the ninth inning.
The Bearcats struggled at the plate throughout, producing only four hits. They tallied their first score of the day in the first when Drew Saylor grounded into a double play that scored Erik Eitel. The Bearcats other run came courtesy of a wild pitch that scored Eitel in the third.
Winthrop took the lead with a single run in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Leroux?s sacrifice fly scored the marker in the fourth and an RBI triple by Matkovich and a run-scoring single by Stapf rounded out the scoring.
Eitel was a bright spot offensively for the Bearcats as he went 2 for 3 with a pair of runs scored. Moll also drove in a pair with his first long ball of the season.
Schutz hit his first career grand slam and Nate Bouldin won his second straight start as the Bearcats snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-3 win over Winthrop in game one of Saturday?s doubleheader.
Bouldin went 7.1 innings on the hill, yielding just two earned runs and seven hits to improve to 2-0 on the year. Rob Reel and Bryan Wood followed Bouldin to the mound, with Wood earning his first career save after recording the final three outs. Chase Edwards took the loss for Winthrop, after he allowed four runs and four hits in five-plus innings of work.
Cincinnati got all the offense it needed during a four-run sixth innings, courtesy of Schutz?s second homer of the series. Josh Romero and Eitel started the frame off with walks, before Muscenti singled to load the bases. Facing a 2-0 count, Schutz blasted an Edwards pitch to deep leftfield to put the Bearcats ahead 4-2.
Winthrop jumped on the board in the bottom of the second when Ben Ehrlich ripped an RBI single, following a two-base error by Muscenti. Matt Repec provided the other Eagle run with a homer in the bottom of the fifth.
Cincinnati added its final run in the top of the eighth when Smith plated Schutz with an RBI double to left center. Winthrop responded with a tally in the bottom of the inning on a Daniel Carte sacrifice fly.
In the last of the ninth, Reel started the inning by yielding a double to Ehrlich that brought Wood out of the bullpen for the Bearcats. After getting roughed up in his debut last weekend in his debut at Duke, Wood retired three straight Eagle hitters to pick up his first collegiate save.
Cincinnati returns to action next weekend when they travel to Vanderbilt for a three-game series beginning on Friday.