TicketsBearcats Survive Marathon With Billikens, 5-4
Contact: Shawn Sell
5/10/2003
Mark Muscenti laid down the game-winning bunt in Cincinnati 5-4, 15-inning win on Friday night. |
ST. LOUIS, Mo.?Mark Muscenti laid down a perfect squeeze bunt in the top of the 15th inning, scoring Brad Schutz with the go-ahead run as the Cincinnati Bearcats survived a nearly four-hour marathon with Saint Louis, 5-4 on Friday night at the Billiken Sports Center.
The victory was bittersweet for the Bearcats though, as a 9-6 win by Charlotte over TCU eliminated Cincinnati from contention for a Conference USA Tournament position.
Schutz led off the final inning with a double up the left center field ally to put the go-ahead run in scoring position with no one out. After Erik Eitel struck out, Justin Niefer came to the plate for Cincinnati. The junior outfielder grounded a ball past first baseman Ryan Murphy, but second bagger Aaron Thompson was able to come up with the shot. Pitcher Dave Guntorius broke to cover the bag, but Niefer beat the throw with a headfirst slide for a base hit. Muscenti was next and he bunted the first pitch, allowing Schutz to score easily and move Niefer to second, making it a 4-3 Bearcat lead. Jack Nelson was next at the rack and he gave UC another run with an RBI single to right.
Rob Reel picked up the win for Cincinnati, improving to 2-1 after an outstanding six-inning relief appearance. The senior matched a career-high with six strikeouts, while allowing a run in the bottom of the 15th on a single by Corey Lawson. B.J. Borsa was also phenomenal, going nine innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and notching a season-best eight strikeouts. Guntorius absorbed the loss for Saint Louis, falling to 2-3 after allowing a pair of runs and three hits, with six strikeouts in 2.1 innings of work.
The Bearcats, who knocked out 16 hits on the night, struck early getting an RBI single from Schutz in the second inning. Saint Louis quickly tied it with a run of its own in the bottom of the third. After Borsa hit the lead off hitter Jake Friederich, Johnny Sweeney doubled to left center to score the runner.
Steve Pickerell put Cincinnati back in front with a two-run homer, his team-best 12th of the year in the fourth. But the scrappy Billikens charged back again with a run in the fifth. Derek Muncy walked to start the frame, moved to second on a ground out, advanced to third on a bunt single and ultimately scored on Sweeney?s RBI groundout.
Saint Louis continued its comeback in the seventh, getting a run on a Lawson single that brought home Sweeney.
After Billiken starter Eric Rohr departed after seven solid innings, Jake Baumgartner hit the mound and turned in 5.2 outstanding innings of his own. The Bearcats had a scoring opportunity in the ninth, but Baumgartner got Eitel to bounce into a double play to end the threat.
Cincinnati nearly ended the affair in the 13th, when Niefer was cut down trying to score at the plate. After leading off with a single, Niefer moved to second on a Muscenti sacrifice. Nelson ripped a single the other way to left center, prompting third base coach Jeff Ditch to send Niefer plate ward. But the Bearcats shot at the lead came up just short as Sweeney threw a strike to SLU catcher Andrew Slania to nail Niefer.
Saint Louis posed one final challenge in the 15th, getting a double by Sweeney to start the stanza. After a fly ball out, Lawson came up with his second RBI single of the game to cut the lead to 5-4. But Reel came through in the clutch, striking out Don Rogers and getting Aaron Thompson to fly out to right to end the contest.
Niefer led the Bearcats at the rack, going 4 for 7, while Pickerell was 3 for 6 with a double, a homer and two RBI as Cincinnati improved to 14-35 and 6-19 in conference play. Sweeney got three hits for Saint Louis who falls to 16-28, 4-21.
The game was the Bearcats longest since a 16-inning battle with South Florida on April 22, 2000.
The same two teams get right back at it on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT. Brian St. Jean starts for Cincinnati against SLU?s Ben Hutton.