TicketsBaseball Opens With Win At Duke
UC wins 12 inning contest, 3-2
Contact: Shawn Sell
2/13/2004
Josh Kay got the win in his first appearance as a Bearcat Friday at Duke. |
DURHAM, N.C.---Erik Eitel scored the game-winning run in the top of the 12th inning and Josh Kay earned his first victory as a Bearcat as the University of Cincinnati baseball team won its opening contest of the 2004 season by a 3-2 score over Duke on Friday at Jack Coombs Stadium.
Kay was nearly unhittable, allowing only two hits in four innings of work, while striking out five to earn the victory in his first UC appearance. Eitel scored on a wild pitch by losing pitcher David Torcise after leading off the frame with a double and moving to third on Pat LeMasters? sacrifice bunt. The victory was the Bearcats first in a season-opening contest since a 3-2 win over Wofford on February 19, 2000.
?To win the first time you even step on a baseball field for the year is very satisfying,? said head coach Brian Cleary. ?We need to improve our overall play a little bit, but we had a great effort today. The kids played hard and it was good to win a close game.?
The Bearcats got an outstanding effort out of starting pitcher Justin Minges, as the junior surrendered just one hit and three walks in 5.1 innings on the hill. Minges struck out five Blue Devil batters in the contest. Eitel, Aaron Moll and Brian Beltz paced the offense with two hits apiece. The game was the first collegiate start for Beltz, who went two for five.
UC got on the scoreboard first, getting a LeMasters? RBI groundout in the fifth. Jack Nelson scored the run after leading off with a walk, moving to second on a Moll single and to third on an Eitel sacrifice. The Bearcats added a second tally an inning later, when Moll singled home pinch runner Brian Dill.
The Bearcats averted disaster in the bottom of the inning when Jeff Griffin got a pair of outs in relief of Minges with the bases loaded. Griffin wasn?t so fortunate an inning later when, with two outs, he yielded an infield single to Jonathan Anderson that loaded the bases. With a full count on Adam Murray, Griffin?s delivery eluded catcher Steve Pickerell, going all the way to the backstop and allowing the game-tying runs to score.
UC got out of another jam in the ninth when Kay relived Jim Olds on the hill and got a fielder?s choice and a strikeout to avoid a two-on, one out situation. After striking out Murray to end the ninth, Kay went on to fan four consecutive Blue Devils hitters through the beginning of the 11th. With one out in the 12th, Duke got back-to-back singles, but Kay induced Tim Layden to line into a double play to end the chance of a Blue Devil comeback.
?We got some clutch performances on the mound today,? Cleary continued. ?The pitchers did a good job with the exception of allowing too many free bases. I thought the defense was exceptional and the hitters did a good job, but need to improve as well.?
Anderson led the Duke offense, mustering two of the Blue Devils? four hits. UC?s Drew Saylor who ended 2003 with hits in nine straight games, had his streak come to and end with a zero for six day at the plate.
The same two teams will get back at it tomorrow beginning at 1 p.m. Greg Russell will make his UC debut on the mound, facing Duke?s Zach Schrieber.