TicketsXavier Topples Bearcats, 4-1
Ogden has first two-hit game for UC
Contact: Shawn Sell
2/29/2004
Brian St. Jean had a career-best seven strikeouts in Sunday's loss at Xavier. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio?The Cincinnati Bearcats got runners on base in all but one inning, but pushed across just one run as Xavier picked up a 4-1 victory in college baseball action on Sunday afternoon at Hayden Field.
UC (2-7) left 12 runners on base for the game, with half of them stranded in scoring position. Xavier (2-5) took advantage of a three-run third inning to take its second win over the Bearcats in two days.
?We didn?t get the situational hitting that we needed and didn?t put the ball in play when we needed to,? said Bearcat head coach Brian Cleary. ?I thought (Dan) Graham pitched well and we just couldn?t get anything going. We didn?t put enough good at-bats together and even though it was well played by both teams, Xavier just got a better pitching effort than we did.?
The Musketeers chased UC starter and losing pitcher Jeff Griffin (0-1) in the third inning with five hits and three runs. After a lead off walk, XU?s Sean Brewer lined a single to right that skipped past Bearcat right field Brian Beltz, allowing Matt Waskertitz to score from first and Brewer to go all the way to third. That brought Brian St. Jean out of the UC bullpen and Alec Moss greeted the junior righty with a squeeze bunt single that scored Brewer and made it 3-1. Following a double play, Xavier put together three straight hits, highlighted by a Brett Smith double that put the Musketeers ahead to stay, 4-1.
From there, St. Jean was phenomenal, allowing just one more hit and a hit batter, while striking out a career-best seven in six innings of work. Matt Ogden led the UC offense with two of the Bearcats? six hits. Xavier got eight hits, including two each from Brewer and Moss.
?I thought St. Jean was outstanding,? said Cleary. ?He kept us in the game and really gave us a chance to win.?
Xavier got a solid pitching outing from freshman Dan Graham (1-1), who allowed just five hits and one run in seven innings. Graham registered five strikeouts, while walking seven, before handing things over to Mark Grissom. Grissom pitched the final two innings to earn his first save of the year.
The Musketeers got the scoring started early, putting runners on first and third on Griffin?s first two pitches of the game. Brewer lined the first offering he saw to left for a double and Moss reached on a bunt single on the next pitch. Jay Johnson put the home team up 1-0 with a sacrifice fly to right.
After leaving the bases loaded in the first and two more on in the second, the Bearcats finally broke through with the game-tying run in the third. Drew Saylor walked and moved to second on a Graham wild pitch. Steve Pickerell moved Saylor to third with a groundout, bringing Elliot Salcedo to the plate with one out. Salcedo came through with a single up the middle to plate UC?s only run of the day.
The Bearcats return to action next Friday (March 5), beginning a three-game series at Vanderbilt. First pitch in Nashville on Friday is set for 4 p.m. CT, with a 2 p.m. first pitch set for Saturday and a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.