TicketsMinges Goes Distance In Loss At Alabama
Junior tosses first career complete game
Contact: Shawn Sell
2/20/2004
Justin Minges threw the first complete game of his career in Friday's loss at Alabama. |
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.---Justin Minges threw the first complete game of his career, but it wasn?t enough as Alabama handed the Cincinnati Bearcats a 6-3 loss on Friday night before a crowd of 4,415 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
Minges allowed only three earned runs on 10 hits, but was handed his first defeat of the season. The junior righthander was hurt by a bad luck-plagued, three-run fourth inning that pushed the Tide ahead by a 4-0 score. Alabama utilized two infield singles, an error and a balk to score three unearned runs, all coming with two outs in the frame. Brent Carter (2-0) picked up the win for Alabama, leaving after six-plus innings, allowing three runs on six hits. Carter had five strikeouts, while Minges logged three.
?I thought tonight was our best effort of a young season,? said Bearcat head coach Brian Cleary. ?Our offensive really battled hard against a pair of outstanding pitchers. I think we really were a couple of timely hits away from a couple more runs. I was pleased with our effort and thought we executed pretty well.?
Drew Saylor led the Cincinnati (1-3) offensive attack with his second straight three-hit game, going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Brian Beltz and Aaron Moll also had two hits for UC. Allen Rice, Carlos Sosa and Evan Bush all tallied a pair of hits for the Crimson Tide (3-2).
After the Bearcats left runners on first and third in the top of the first inning, Alabama broke through for a run in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Bush. The score remained the same until the bottom half of the fourth, when with two outs, Nick Richardson knocked a single to left. Greg Paiml was next and he hit a hard grounder to the right of UC shortstop Saylor that the sophomore came up with, but his throw pulled first baseman Jack Nelson off the bag for an error. Brandon Belcher made it 2-0 with an infield single and Richardson came home on a Minges balk. After an intentional walk to Rice, Sosa hit a shot to third that Jon DeLuca gloved, but he couldn?t get a throw off for another infield hit. Minges than retired Zac Welch to end the inning.
UC answered with a run in the top of the fifth as Saylor drove home Erik Eitel with a two-out single. But the Bearcats? rally was quickly thwarted as Steve Pickerell looked at strike three, leaving runners on first and second. The Bearcats got two more in the seventh on a Beltz RBI groundout and another run-scoring single by Saylor that got UC within 4-3.
But from there, Alabama fireballer Seth Johnson shut down the Cats, finishing off three shutout innings for his second save of the year. Alabama added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings on RBI singles by Sosa and Bo Hannah.
?I thought Minges pitched really well,? Cleary continued. ?He gave us the type of outing you would expect from an ace pitcher. If we play like we did tonight consistently, we will win plenty of games this season.?
The teams will contest game two of the series, beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Greg Russell will make his second career start for the Bearcats, opposing Alabama freshman southpaw Wade LeBlanc.
Game Notes
? The complete game by Minges was the first of his career, while the eight innings equal the longest outing of his career. Minges threw eight innings in a win over Tulane on April 26, 2002.
? Saylor had three hits for the second straight game and is 6-for-9 in his last two games.
? Eitel had his six-game hit streak, dating back to the end of the 2003 season.
? Beltz extended his hit streak to four straight games, while Nelson stretched his to six in a row.