TicketsHome Run Battle Goes To RedHawks
Miami outslugs UC, 14-8
Contact: Shawn Sell
4/28/2004
Jon DeLuca had the first two-homer game of his career Wednesday at Miami (OH). |
OXFORD, Ohio---Miami (OH), the Mid-American Conference leaders in home runs hit five long balls en route to a 14-8 win over Cincinnati in non-conference baseball action on Wednesday afternoon at McKie Field.
The Bearcats jumped to a 2-1 lead after the first inning only to see the RedHawks rip off 13 unanswered runs and then hold off a late UC rally to post Miami?s second win over Cincinnati this season. Miami improves to 25-13 on the year, while the Bearcats fall to 8-32.
With a strong wind blowing out to left field, the ball flew out of the park, with UC hitting four home runs themselves. Both Jon DeLuca and Steve Pickerell had multi-home run days as each clubbed a pair of long balls. Miami, which pounded out 18 hits, got a pair of home runs each by Geoff Orr and Ryan Edginton and one from Mike Ferris.
Cincinnati dented the scoreboard first, taking advantage of an error by RedHawk left fielder Sam Sellery in the first inning, as Pickerell launched a two-run shot to left. Miami quickly got one of the runs back in its half of the first on a sacrifice fly by Sellery.
Things started to come apart for UC beginning in the second inning as Miami scored four runs in the frame. Brandon Hillier had the big hit of the stanza with a bases clearing double to center. John Slone brought the fourth run of the inning home, plating Hillier with a single through the left side. The RedHawks put another four-spot on the board in the third inning, starting with Orr?s first of two homers, a two-run blast down the left field line. The next batter, Edginton also hit a ball down the left field line that carried over the wall for a homer. Hillier drove in his fourth run of the day two batters later with a single through the left side that brought Courtney Campbell around to score.
The fourth inning was a near mirror image of the third inning as both Orr and Edginton went for back-to-back homers. After Paul Frietch led off with a single, Orr hit a ball out to left, just before Edginton?s second bomb of the day to left center. Miami got its final tallies of the day on a Ferris long ball to right in the fifth.
Cincinnati started its comeback in the sixth with three runs, all courtesy of a three-run shot by DeLuca. Drew Saylor was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Aaron Moll followed with a single. DeLuca then lifted a high ball that got into the wind and traveled out for his second homer of the year. The Bearcat long ball parade continued in the seventh when Pickerell launched his second homer of the day and 11th of the season to lead off the inning.
The Bearcats got another run in the eighth when Elliot Salcedo scored on a wild pitch following a double. UC rounded out the day?s scoring in the ninth when DeLuca crushed his second homer of the day with two outs. The multi-homer game was the first of DeLuca?s collegiate career.
Hillier was the offensive star of the day for Miami with three hits and four RBI, while Orr also drove in four and Frietch had three hits. Matt Raguse picked up the win for the RedHawks with five innings, allowing just two unearned runs on four hits with five strikeouts to pick up his first win of the year. UC starter Brian St. Jean (3-5) took the loss, getting roughed up for nine runs (eight earned) on eight hits in two-plus innings. Josh Kay, one of four Bearcat relievers used on the day, turned in a sparkling two hitless innings with three strikeouts.
The Bearcats are back in Conference USA action this weekend when Saint Louis visits Midland Field for a three-game series. The Billikens, just one-half game ahead of the Bearcats in the league standings will join the Bearcats for a 4 p.m. first pitch on Friday afternoon. The series continues at 5 p.m. on Saturday, before wrapping up at 1 p.m. Sunday.