TicketsBearcats Beat Morehead State, 8-7
Eckman earns first career win
Contact: Shawn Sell
5/4/2004
Erik Eitel had three hits, including a double in Tuesday's win over Morehead State. |
MOREHEAD, Ky.---Eric Eckman got his first collegiate win and a trio of Bearcats had three hits each as Cincinnati thwarted a late Morehead State comeback to hand the Eagles an 8-7 setback on Tuesday at Allen Field.
The Bearcats fell behind by a 4-1 score after three innings of play, but responded with seven straight runs to carry an 8-4 lead into the ninth inning. The Eagles, in shades of last season?s comeback win over UC, rallied for three runs in the last of the ninth to make a game of it. Cincinnati improves to 10-34 on the year with the victory, while Morehead State slips to 12-30 with the loss.
Eckman gave the Bearcats six solid innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits to improve his record to 1-5 on the year. Mark Muscenti, Jon DeLuca and Erik Eitel carried the UC offense with three hits each, with DeLuca blasting his fourth homer of the year in the ninth inning.
The Eagles didn?t waste any time getting to Eckman as Robert Dittrich led off the first inning with a double and two outs later, scored on a double by Donald Cheney. UC answered the marker in the third inning on a Steve Pickerell sacrifice fly, only to see Morehead score three times in its half of the third. The Eagles? double machine kept rolling in the frame as Dittrich and Pete Troyer ripped back-to-back two baggers for a 2-1 Eagle lead. Eckman was able to record two straight outs, but Lance Seasor put the home team up three with a two-run homer to right.
Faced with the deficit, the Bearcats quickly answered back with a pair of runs in each of the next two innings. The fourth inning saw Cincinnati scored a pair of unearned runs, starting when DeLuca reached on a throwing error by Ryan Plank. Two batters later, Eitel brought DeLuca home with a single up the middle and advanced to second on the throw home. Muscenti followed with a single of his own, also moving up to second on the throw and making it a 4-3 game.
The Bearcats took the lead for good in the fifth, starting the inning with three straight singles by Pickerell, Aaron Moll and Drew Saylor to load the bases. DeLuca tied the game with a sacrifice fly and one batter later, Pat LeMasters beat out a potential double play to score Moll.
On the mound, Eckman settled into a groove after the three-run third inning. Leaving after the sixth inning, Eckman retired seven of the final nine batters he faced. Tony Maynard took over from there, throwing two hitless innings with a walk and a strikeout. UC got its sixth run of the game in the eighth inning when Muscenti doubled home Eitel.
The Bearcats continued to pour it on in the ninth inning, scoring two more runs to open a comfortable 8-4 edge. UC used the long ball to build the advantage as DeLuca and LeMasters hit back-to-back homers. The two straight blasts were the first for the Bearcats since Moll and Joe List went back-to-back on April 24, 2002 at Miami (OH).
With Greg Russell on the mound, Morehead brought back memories of last season?s walk-off home run win over the Bearcats with a three-run rally. With one out, Morehead got consecutive singles by Dittrich and Troyer to bring Travis Rima to the plate. Rima blasted a Russell offering to deep right center to bring the Eagles within a run. But Russell settled down to strike out the last two batters of the game and preserve the Bearcat victory.
Morehead State got a complete game effort from Casey Campbell, who turned in a gutsy 140-pitch effort. Campbell gave up eight runs (six earned) on 16 hits, but struck out five Bearcats with just one walk. Dittrich led the Eagle offense with four hits, while Troyer and Jesse Howell each had two.
The Bearcats are back in action this weekend, resuming their Conference USA schedule. UC will travel to Charlotte for a three-game series with the 49ers, beginning Friday at 6 p.m.