TicketsBearcats Bounced Again By TCU, 10-3
Beltz stretches hit streak to seven in loss
Contact: Shawn Sell
4/10/2004
Brian Beltz extended his hitting streak to a career-best seven in Saturday's loss to TCU. |
FORT WORTH, Texas---Cincinnati started strong with three runs in the first two innings, but TCU battled back with 10 unanswered runs to hand the Bearcats a 10-3 setback in game two of a Conference USA baseball series on Saturday at cold and wet Lupton Stadium.
After the Bearcats plated two in the first two innings, TCU?s Clayton Jerome settled down, allowing just two base runners after the second inning. Last year?s C-USA pitcher of the year, hurled eight innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking just one and striking out six. Jerome improved to 7-2 on the year with the win. The Frogs are now 19-13 on the year with a 7-4 C-USA mark, while Cincinnati falls to 5-25 and 1-10 in league play.
The defeat for the Bearcats ruined a valiant pitching effort by freshman Eric Eckman in just his second career start. The freshman gave the Bearcats 6.1 solid innings, allowing just two earned runs among the five he surrendered, while yielding six hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Bearcat miscues killed both Eckman and reliever Jeff Griffin as UC tied a season-high with five errors, while also committing several other mistakes in the field. Eckman falls to 0-3 on the year with the defeat.
UC got off to a great start when Brian Beltz doubled with one out in the first. Jack Nelson promptly brought Beltz home with a single up the middle that put the Bearcats up 1-0 early. The Bearcats got two more in the second, with both runs coming with two outs. Aaron Moll led off the inning with a single and two outs later, Matt Ogden drew a walk. Mark Muscenti brought both runners home when he banged a double off the centerfield wall.
But the wheels started to fall off for the Bearcats in the bottom of the frame, as TCU scored three unearned runs. To begin the inning, the Frogs got a walk and a Muscenti error to put two runners on. After Eckman struck out J.J. Estrada, Kyle Dahlberg bunted both runners over. After another walk, German Duran hit a bouncer that Drew Saylor gloved, but an awkward bounce delayed the sophomore?s throw to second, causing all hands to be safe. On the next play, Chad Huffman hit a grounder that Muscenti booted and then a throw to the plate resulted in another error on Muscenti.
TCU pulled into the lead on Duran?s sacrifice fly in the fourth and went up 5-3 with a lead off homer by Duran in the seventh. UC managed to stay close, but couldn?t muster enough offense to overcome the deficit. The Frogs put the game away with a five-run eighth inning that featured two more Cincinnati errors. Dahlberg brought the first two runs home with a double to left and a dropped fly ball in center by Ogden brought another run across. Huffman made UC pay for the error when he crushed his eighth home run of the year to left field on the next play.
The Bearcats were led at the plate by Moll and Saylor with two hits apiece. Beltz?s first inning double enabled the redshirt freshman to extend his consecutive games hitting streak to a career-best seven games. TCU got two hits and two RBI each from Dahlberg and Huffman and Duran contributed three RBI.
UC will be out to snap its three-game losing streak when they wrap up the three-game series with TCU on Sunday. First pitch will commence at 1 p.m. CT, with UC?s Moll taking the mound against TCU?s Tim McCough.