TicketsUC Puts Win Streak On The Line At Wake
Bearcats to face second straight ACC foe
Contact: Shawn Sell
2/23/2005
Brian Beltz hit his first career home run last weekend at Duke. |
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati will put its three-game winning streak on the line when it travels to Wake Forest this weekend for a non-conference baseball series. Action gets underway from Hooks Stadium on Friday (Feb. 25) with a 2:30 p.m. first pitch. The series continues on Saturday and Sunday with a 1:30 p.m. start on tap each day. The Bearcats enter the weekend 3-3 on the year after a sweep of Duke, its first in nearly three seasons, last weekend. Wake Forest is just 2-6 on the year but is fresh off an 11-4 win over Appalachian State on Tuesday.
NOTES FROM DUKE:
? The Bearcats? sweep of Duke was not only the program?s first in nearly three seasons, but also marked the first non-conference series UC had won since 2002. The last time the Bearcats accomplished either feat came with a home sweep of Cleveland State, March 8-10, 2002.
? Jon DeLuca batted .500 for the weekend, with four RBI and two doubles to earn Conference USA Hitter of the Week honors.
? Brian Beltz hit the first home run of his collegiate career in Sunday?s victory.
? A pair of Bearcat hurlers picked up the first wins of their career as junior Bryan Wood and freshman Sean Munninghoff both were victorious. The win for Wood came in relief, while Munninghoff's came in his first collegiate start.
? Josh Kay picked up the first save of his career in Friday's victory.
ABOUT WAKE FOREST: Wake Forest has struggled early in the 2005 season, posting a 2-6 record. The Deacons did snap their five-game losing streak with an 11-4 win over Appalachian State on Tuesday. Wake?s offense is hitting a collective .236, but features four players over .300, including Ryder Mathias (.370) and Matt Antonelli (.360). J.B. Tucker provides the power for the Deacons with team-highs of three home runs and 11 RBI. On the mound, Wake has a team-ERA of 4.77, while opponents are hitting .308. Lefty Tim Morley is the ace of the starting staff, as he holds a 3.09 ERA, despite an 0-2 record. Wake Forest was picked to finish eighth in the ACC in a preseason poll of the league?s coaches.
UC AGAINST THE ACC: The Bearcats have struggled against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference, posting a record of 30-81 (.270) since 1958, but have won three straight after last weekend?s sweep of Duke. In addition to an 0-3 mark against Wake Forest, the Bearcats have also faced Clemson (1-1), Duke (10-7), Florida State (2-21), Georgia Tech (0-3), Miami (0-3), North Carolina State (3-4) and Virginia Tech (14-37).
LAST TIME AGAINST WAKE FOREST: Cincinnati hung close with the nation?s 12th-ranked team, but Wake Forest scored a three-game sweep of the Bearcats Feb. 22-24, 2002 in Winston-Salem. In picking up the three wins, Wake was victorious by a total of just 10 runs. The opener featured a classic pitching duel between UC?s B.J. Borsa and future first round draft pick Kyle Sleeth of Wake Forest. The Deacons pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the eighth to earn the 3-2 victory. In game two, starter Tim Morley and a pair of relievers allowed the Bearcats just one run and five hits in a 6-1 Wake triumph. The finale saw Wake explode for five runs in the bottom of the seventh against Nate Bouldin to overcome a one-run deficit and go on for the 9-5 victory.
SERIES DROUGHT ENDS: The Bearcats put an end to a pair of dry spells with last weekend?s sweep of Duke. Prior to the weekend, UC had not won a non-conference series of at least three games since a three-game sweep of Cleveland State, March 8-10, 2002, a span of seven series. The sweep by the Bearcats was also the first by the team since the 2002 Cleveland State series.
DELUCA EARNS C-USA HONOR: Jon DeLuca, who helped the Bearcats to a weekend sweep of Duke, was named Conference USA Hitter of the Week on Feb. 21. DeLuca had multiple hits in all three games of the weekend and finished the set hitting .500 (7-for-14). He drove in a total of four runs, while scoring three more and doubling twice. The award is the first ever C-USA accolade for DeLuca.
THE NEED FOR SPEED: After ranking last in Conference USA in 2004 with a program-low 10 stolen bases, the Bearcats bolstered their team speed with the additions of transfers LaFringe Hayes and Mark Haske. Batting 1-2 in the line-up all six games this season, the duo has combined to nab five of UC?s seven stolen bases. The Bearcats executed a double steal of second and home at Florida Atlantic that saw an unlikely candidate, Logan Parker, swipe home.
UNLIKELY POWER: Entering this season, the Bearcats expected power from players like Jon DeLuca, Neall French, Jack Nelson and Logan Parker. But in the first two weekends of play, an unlikely group has provided most of the Bearcats? power output. In the Feb. 11 opener, senior Erik Eitel hit just the third home run of his career. A day later, juniors Mark Muscenti and LaFringe Hayes went long on consecutive at-bats. The blast for Muscenti was only the second of his career, while Hayes? homer was the first of his collegiate career. Another unlikely candidate went deep on Feb. 20 at Duke as sophomore Brian Beltz picked up the first long ball of his career. While the quartet has combined for four of UC?s six homers, Parker has made an immediate impact in the Bearcat line-up with the other two longballs.
BEARCATS PICKED 10TH IN C-USA: In a preseason poll of conference coaches, the Bearcats have been chosen to finish 10th in Conference USA this season. Tulane, ranked No. 1 nationally in the preseason by Baseball America, earned all 12 of the first place votes as the favorite to win the conference. Defending C-USA Tournament Champions TCU were picked second, with last year?s regular season titlists East Carolina rounding out the top three.
CLOSE GAME BLUES: The Bearcats may have started to turn around their disappointment of close games from the last two seasons as they are 2-2 early this year in games decided by two runs or less.
ANOTHER SLOW START: After going just 1-for-15 in the opening weekend at Florida Atlantic, junior 3B Jon DeLuca tallied a 7-for-14 performance against the Blue Devils, garnering Conference USA Hitter of the Week accolades. Throughout his career, DeLuca has gotten off to slow starts, before breaking out and going on for big years. As a freshman, DeLuca started 0-for-12 and 2-for-20 before going on to hit .257 in his final 42 games to end the year at .241. Last year, DeLuca went 0-for-11 and 4-for-24, while missing 10 of the first 20 games of the year. Again he rebounded, by hitting .280 over the last 35 games of the year to finish at .263.
WELCOME ADDITIONS: The Bearcat line-up has enjoyed the early contributions of newcomers Neall French, Mark Haske and Logan Parker as the trio has combined to start all but one game this year. As a group, the threesome is batting .273 (21-for-77), with four doubles, two home runs and eight RBI. Haske leads the team in hitting at .320, while Parker is tops in homers with two.
STRONG AT THE FRONT...: The Bearcats seem to have found the ace to their starting rotation in senior Tony Maynard. The former Freshman All-American has been outstanding in both of his starts this season, posting a 1-0 record and a team-leading 1.98 ERA. Against Duke on Feb. 18, Maynard tossed a career-best 7.2 innings in earning his first win of the year. In addition to leading the team in ERA, Maynard is also tops in innings pitched with 13.2.
...AND AT THE BACK: UC may have also solved the issue of who will serve as the closer based on senior Josh Kay?s performance at Duke. Kay appeared in two of the three games vs. the Blue Devils and proved to be nearly unhittable. In four innings, Kay surrendered just three hits, while striking out seven Duke hitters, picking up his first career save along the way. For the year, Kay has appeared in a team-best four games, holding a 3.86 ERA and leading the team with 11 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting just .200 against Kay entering the week.
NEW ROTATION: During the 2004 season, a total of 11 different pitchers started at least one game on the mound for the Bearcats. With six of those players either no longer on the roster or injured, UC will be forced to find new members for its rotation. The team opened the season with the trio of seniors Tony Maynard and Jim Olds and freshman Kevin Schrader at Florida Atlantic, but the Bearcats have another threesome waiting in the wings. Senior Justin Minges, sophomore Nick Buscemi and redshirt freshman David Theobald should all vie for shots at the starting rotation sometime this season. Of the six pitchers, Maynard (19 career starts) and Minges (16) are the most experienced as starters. The Bearcats may have found the missing link to the starting rotation in freshman Sean Munninghoff. In his first career start at Duke last weekend, Munninghoff earned his first win with five innings, allowing just one run.
MARKED IMPROVEMENTS: With the corner outfield spots a bit of a question mark this year, sophomores Brian Beltz and Brian Szarmach have shown great improvement early in the 2005 season. Beltz has seen limited playing time so far, but is hitting .333 in nine at-bats. He also has shown improved power, by hitting his first career homer, something he failed to do in 216 at-bats last year. Szarmach saw his batting average rise to .267 after going 2-for-7 during the Duke series.
MORE BONUS BASEBALL: For the third straight Opening Day, the Bearcats went extra innings, as they dropped a 7-6, 13-inning decision to Florida Atlantic on Feb. 11. UC played 11 innings at Duke in the 2003 season opener, dropping a 4-3 decision. The Bearcats bounced back last year, taking a 3-2, 12-inning decision from the Blue Devils. The 13 innings played at Florida Atlantic were the longest for the Bearcats since a 15-inning marathon (5-4 win) on May 9, 2003 at Saint Louis.