TicketsBearcats Drop Bobcats, 13-4
Muscenti with career-high four hits in win
Contact: Shawn Sell
4/20/2004
Mark Muscenti had a career-high four hits in Tuesday's win over Ohio. |
ATHENS, Ohio---The Cincinnati Bearcats snapped a three-game losing streak with a convincing 13-4 non-conference win over Ohio University on Tuesday afternoon in college baseball action.
The Bearcats wasted little time as they exploded for six first inning runs, four coming on the first grand slam of sophomore Drew Saylor?s career. UC ended the day with 16 hits, while Brian St. Jean allowed just five hits in seven innings on the mound. Cincinnati improves to 8-28 on the year with the win, while the Bobcats are now 12-21.
Mark Muscenti led the Bearcat offensive assault with a career-best four hits, while Saylor ended the game with a career-high five RBI. Steve Pickerell added three hits and Aaron Moll notched his sixth home run of the year.
The Bearcats got out of the gates quick with Muscenti and Jack Nelson starting the first inning off with singles. Pickerell walked and one out later, Saylor drove his seventh home run of the year over the left field wall to score all four runs. Pat LeMasters followed Saylor with a single and then Moll blasted a shot over the center field wall to put the Bearcats up 6-0.
UC put two more on the board in the third inning, getting a walk by Moll to lead off the inning. The senior then stole second and advanced to third when OU catcher Ben Crabtree?s throw sailed into centerfield. Two outs later, Muscenti came up with his third hit of the game, blooping a single to right to plate Moll. Nelson then drew a walk and Pickerell made it an 8-0 game when he singled through the left side to score Muscenti.
Ohio broke through for the only three runs they would get off of St. Jean in the third inning. Brian Colopy came up with the big hit of the inning when he lined a two-run triple to right to score both Jared Willis and Dan Lunsford. Anthony Gresick brought Colopy home in the next at-bat with a single through the right side.
Cincinnati got the three runs back in the sixth inning and added two more in the ninth. Inning number six saw LeMasters rip a one out double, followed by walks to Moll and pinch hitter Elliot Salcedo. Erik Eitel then picked up an RBI with a groundout and two more runs came home one batter later on a Bobcat throwing error. DeLuca put the first marker of the ninth inning on the board when he singled home Muscenti and Saylor picked up RBI number five of the game with a sacrifice fly that brought home Nelson.
Ohio got its final run of the game in the eighth against Jeff Griffin when Phil Sabatini double to bring home Colopy. Colopy led the Bobcat offense with two hits, two runs and two RBI, as he picked up one-third of the Ohio hits on the day.
For Cincinnati, St. Jean was outstanding, improving to 3-4 on the year with his seven solid innings. Ohio starter and former fifth-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds Marc Cornell took the loss to fall to 0-2. The senior was touched for eight runs and nine hits in three innings of work, while walking five.
The Bearcats will return to Conference USA play this weekend, when they travel to Houston for a three-game series. The series gets underway from Cougar Field on Friday at 7 p.m. CT and continues at 7 p.m. on Saturday, before concluding at 1 p.m. on Sunday.