TicketsBearcats To Open Home Schedule With Cleveland State
Home opener set for Friday, March 4
Contact: Shawn Sell
3/1/2005
Mark Muscenti and the Bearcats play their first home game this Friday. |
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati opens its 30-game 2005 home baseball schedule this weekend when Cleveland State visits for a three-game series. The opener is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start on Friday (March 4) at UC Baseball Stadium. Games two and three will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Cincinnati brings a 4-5 record into the beginning of a nine-game homestand after winning last Sunday at Wake Forest. The Bearcats have earned all four of their victories this season against ACC foes, after sweeping Duke earlier this year. This will mark the start to the 2005 season for Cleveland State which finished 19-33 in 2004.
NOTES FROM WAKE FOREST:
? With wins in four of the first nine games of the season, the Bearcats are off to their best start since 2002, when they started with an identical 4-5 mark. UC was just 2-7 in the first nine games of each of the last two seasons.
? Brian Szarmach hammered the first two home runs of his career at Wake Forest.
? Jon DeLuca?s sixth inning single on Saturday was the 100th hit of his collegiate career, while Mark Muscenti?s single an inning later also pushed him to the century mark. The duo joins Jack Nelson as current Bearcats with at least 100 career hits.
? LaFringe Hayes scored four runs in Saturday?s loss, becoming the first Bearcat since Aaron Moll on May 1, 2004 to score four times in a single game.
? UC?s 5-2 Sunday triumph was the Bearcats? first ever win over Wake Forest.
OPENING WEEKEND GIVEAWAY: In conjunction with the opening of the first full season in UC Baseball Stadium, the Bearcats will conduct the first of many promotions throughout this season on opening weekend. Interested fans can pick up a copy of UC?s limited edition baseball schedule poster along with schedule cards featuring Bearcat junior Jack Nelson by stopping by the marketing table located on the concourse of the stadium.
ABOUT CLEVELAND STATE: The series in Cincinnati will mark the opening to the 2005 season for Cleveland State, which registered a 19-33 record last season and finished seventh in the Horizon League before advancing to the league tournament?s final round. Head coach Jay Murphy welcomes back 17 letterwinners from that team, including eight starters in the field. Junior 3B Steve Chinn is the Vikings? top returning hitter after batting .335 last year. CSU hit just 23 home runs as a team last season, but welcome back top home run hitter, SS Ben Smith this season. On the mound, Cleveland State registered a 4.87 team ERA last year. Mike Ochwat is CSU?s top returning hurler, having posted a 3-2 record and a 1.70 ERA during a season that saw him split time between the starting rotation and the bullpen. The Vikings were picked to finish fifth in a preseason poll of the league?s coaches.
UC AGAINST THE HORIZON: The Bearcats have faced five of the six current members of the Horizon League, holding a combined record of 65-46-1 (.585) against the schools. In addition to a 13-2 mark against Cleveland State, UC has also faced Butler (15-8), Illinois-Chicago (1-0), Wright State (27-32-1) and Youngstown State (9-4). Wisconsin-Milwaukee is the only current member of the Horizon UC has never faced.
LAST TIME AGAINST CLEVELAND STATE: Cincinnati took all three games of a home series from the Vikings March 8-10, 2002 at Johnny Bench Field. In the opener, UC rode seven strong innings from Chad Pennington and two Jake Smith home runs to an 8-4 triumph. After game two was rained out, UC took both ends of a doubleheader by scores of 8-3 and 2-1. The opener to the seven-inning games saw B.J. Borsa go the distance on the mound and Brad Schutz and Smith each contribute two RBI. The nightcap of the twinbill saw Kyle Markle get the win out of the bullpen, striking out six in 2.2 innings of work.
SERIES DROUGHT ENDS: The Bearcats put an end to a pair of dry spells with a sweep of Duke on Feb. 18-20. 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.
BRIAN?S SONG: It was good to be a Bearcat named Brian over the weekend as all three UC players with that first name excelled. Junior pitcher Bryan Wood had perhaps the best weekend as he held the Deacons in check for 5.2 relief innings. Wood earned a win and posted a 3.18 ERA, while striking out eight hitters. Sophomore outfielders Brian Beltz and Brian Szarmach were also both solid, with Beltz hitting his second homer of the season and Szarmach pounding the first two long balls of his collegiate career.
FAST START, SLOW END: The Bearcats have gotten many games off to a good start this season, as they are outscoring their opponents 16-6 in the first two innings of games and batting a combined .347 in those frames. Conversely, UC has struggled in the late innings, being outscored 20-1 in innings eight and nine, while batting a paltry .089.
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 nine games this season, the duo has combined to nab six of UC?s eight stolen bases. The additional speed has helped the Bearcats to a ranking of fifth in the category in the first C-USA rankings of the season.
HARD TO HIT: While the Bearcats rank 11th in Conference USA in ERA this week, it?s not because opponents are racking up the hits. UC?s pitching staff ranks seventh in the league in opponent?s batting average at a .271 clip. Three of Cincinnati?s hurlers rank in the top 11 in the league in opponents? batting average, led by Sean Munninghoff in fourth with a scant .156 opponents? batting average. Josh Kay is right behind in fifth at .176, while Bryan Wood ranks 11th at .216. Kevin Schrader is just outside the top rankings at .224.
WALK THIS WAY: As tough as hits have come for opposing hitters, the same can?t be said for the walks and hit by pitch the Bearcat hurlers have issued this season. UC has walked more hitters (67) than any team in Conference USA and are tied for tops in hit by pitch (13). The inconsistency has come in spurts however, as UC walked only 15 at Duke Feb. 18-20, but saw 27 batters draw bases on balls and 10 more be hit by pitches last weekend at Wake Forest.
CLOSE GAME BLUES: The Bearcats may have started to turn around their disappointment of close games from the last two seasons as they are 2-3 early this year in games decided by two runs or less. UC was just 5-10 in those games in 2004.
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 three 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. The trend continued at Wake Forest as Beltz tallied his second career blast and Brian Szarmach hit the first two of his collegiate career. While the quintet has combined for seven of UC?s 10 homers, Parker has made an immediate impact in the Bearcat line-up with the other three longballs.
STREAKING CATS: A trio of Bearcats enter the Cleveland State series on a tear, as both Jon DeLuca and Logan Parker have hit safely in seven straight games and LaFringe Hayes has hit in five consecutive games. DeLuca has batted .382 with three doubles and six RBI during the streak, while Parker has two doubles, three home runs and nine RBI. Hayes has also picked up steam as of late, hitting .333 during the streak.
WELCOME ADDITIONS: The Bearcat line-up has enjoyed the early contributions of newcomers Mark Haske, LaFringe Hayes and Logan Parker as the trio has combined to start every game this year. As a group, the threesome is batting .311 (37-for-119), with five doubles, four home runs, 17 RBI and six stolen bases. Haske leads the team in hitting at .389, while Parker is tops in homers with three and Hayes is first in runs (12) and stolen bases (4).
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 started four games and is hitting .316. He also has shown improved power, by hitting two homers, something he failed to do in 216 at-bats last year. Szarmach also got in the power act with two blasts at Wake Forest (Feb. 25-27).
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 solid in all three of his starts this season, posting a 1-0 record and a 3.20 ERA. Against Duke on Feb. 18, Maynard tossed a career-best 7.2 innings in earning his first win of the year. In the first round of Conference USA rankings, Maynard finds himself ranked among the league leaders in innings pitched (fourth-19.2) and ERA (ninth).
...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 this year. Kay has proven to be nearly unhittable this year as he ranks fifth in Conference USA with a .176 opponents batting average. The senior has appeared in a team-best six games so far this year, recording two saves and striking out a team-best 15 hitters. Kay?s 3.60 ERA ranks third on the team.
COMING ON STRONG: After going just 1-for-15 in the opening weekend at Florida Atlantic, junior 3B Jon DeLuca has gone 12-for-29 (.414) over his last six games to raise his batting average to .295. Slow starts are nothing new to DeLuca, who has experienced one each of his last two years 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.
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 has been forced to find new members for its rotation. Senior Tony Maynard has stepped up to anchor the staff and has 20 starts in career. But a youth movement has filled the balance of the rotation as UC has turned to freshmen Kevin Schrader and Sean Munninghoff. The latter has proved to be one of the bigger surprises for the Bearcats this season, as he leads the team in ERA (2.70) and opponents batting average (.156). Should any of the threesome falter, the Bearcats have seniors Justin Minges and Jim Olds, sophomore Nick Buscemi and redshirt freshman David Theobald all waiting for shots at starting.
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 most for the Bearcats since a 15-inning marathon (5-4 win) on May 9, 2003 at Saint Louis. Extra innings have been a norm for UC this year, as they have already played two extended contests, matching the total of all of last season.
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.