TicketsUC Baseball To Play Xavier Sunday
First pitch set for 2 p.m.
Contact: Shawn Sell
3/8/2005
Mark Haske is leading the Bearcats in hitting. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---After weather cancelled Cincinnati?s series with Western Michigan, the Bearcats have added a single contest against crosstown rival Xavier to be played on Sunday. First pitch between the Bearcats and Muskeeters from UC Baseball Stadium is scheduled for 2 p.m.
UC enters the game riding a four-game winning streak that has improved its record to 7-5 on the year. The Bearcats will send senior righthander Tony Maynard to the mound vs. XU. Xavier is 2-9 on the year and has dropped three of its last four games.
SETTING THE SCENE: Cincinnati puts it four-game winning on the line when it entertains Western Michigan in a non-conference baseball series this weekend at the UC Baseball Stadium. The three-game set gets underway on Friday (March 11) with a 4 p.m. first pitch and continues at 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Bearcats are 7-5 on the year after a sweep of Cleveland State last weekend. Western Michigan took both ends of a doubleheader from Brown last Saturday to snap a six-game losing streak and improve to 3-6 on the year. The series is the middle portion of a nine-game homestand for the Bearcats that culminates with a visit from Conference USA rival Louisville next weekend.
NOTES FROM CLEVELAND STATE:
? The Bearcats tied a Conference USA record in Friday?s win with four triples. Junior LaFringe Hayes led the way, tying a school and conference record with two triples in the contest.
? UC?s win on Sunday stretched the Bearcats? winning streak to four, matching the team?s longest string since 2002.
? The Bearcats? 7-5 record gives them their first winning record after opening day since 2002.
? Brian Szarmach recorded the first three-hit game of his career on Sunday.
? Kevin Schrader earned the first win of his career in Saturday?s victory.
? Jon DeLuca stretched his hitting streak to 10 games, while Hayes' has now reached eight in a row.
ABOUT WESTERN MICHIGAN: The Broncos swept a doubleheader from Brown on Saturday during the team?s spring break trip to improve to 3-6 on the young season after dropping five straight. At the plate, Western Michigan is averaging seven runs per game and hitting .262, led by Tony Scheffler and Justin Carter. Scheffler, a junior OF, is hitting a team-high .370, while Carter, a senior INF, paces the team with five home runs and 17 RBI. While the WMU bullpen has struggled, the Broncos starting pitching has been solid led by junior right-hander and projected Friday starter Mark Rasmussen. Rasmussen has recorded a 2.19 ERA this season in two starts, posting a 1-1 record. Sophomore Derek Schlecker has seen time as a starter and a reliever, holding a 1-1 mark and 1.80 ERA.
UC AGAINST THE MAC: Cincinnati has played 280 games against current members of the Mid-American Conference since 1958, with Miami (OH) and Ohio being the most frequent opponents. The Bearcats hold a record of 130-147-3 (.470) against members of the MAC, including a 2-3 mark against Western Michigan. Other MAC teams the Bearcats have played against include Akron (7-5), Ball State (13-10-1), Bowling Green (11-29), Central Michigan (3-3), Eastern Michigan (3-3), Kent State (4-3), Marshall (17-10), Miami (28-37-1), Northern Illinois (4-0), Ohio (26-31) and Toledo (12-13-1). Buffalo is the only current member of the MAC the Bearcats have never met in baseball. During the 2005 season, the Bearcats are set to face MAC representatives Kent State, Miami (twice), Ohio and Toledo.
TRIPLE THE FUN: Three-base hits came in bunches for the Bearcats March 4-6 vs. Cleveland State as they accounted for seven in the three-game series. LaFringe Hayes was at the center of the output, recording four of the seven. In the March 4 win, Hayes tied a school and Conference USA record with a pair of triples, while helping the Bearcats match a conference mark with four in the game. Hayes? first triple also goes down as the first in UC Baseball Stadium history. After ranking last in C-USA last season with just five triples, the Bearcats have already bettered the total with eight three-baggers in only 12 games this year and are leading the conference in the category.
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 21 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 ranks among the Conference USA leaders in opponents batting average (fourth-.180) and ERA (eighth-2.40). 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.
ANOTHER SWEEP: After winning just one series last season, the Bearcats have already won two in four chances this year, with both going down as sweeps. UC?s sweep of Duke Feb. 18-20 was the first by the Bearcats since taking three from Cleveland State March 8-10, 2002. Before last weekend, UC hadn?t swept more than one opponent since the 2001 season, when they took all three from four teams (Wofford, Cleveland State, UAB and Charlotte).
FRENCH NAMED TO BENCH WATCH LIST: Junior catcher Neall French has been named to the 37-member initial watch list for the Johnny Bench Award, honoring the nation's best collegiate catcher. The award is sponsored each year by the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission and is named after the former Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame backstop. The watch list will be narrowed down to 10 semifinalists, who will be announced on May 17. The three finalists will be revealed on June 1, with the sixth annual award winner being announced at the Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 29.
EXPLOSIVE WEEKEND: The Bearcats turned in a dominating performance in the March 4-6 series vs. Cleveland State with one of its best overall performances of the season. UC outscored the Vikings by a 30-3 count, holding an ERA of 0.67 to CSU?s 8.62. To the right is a look at UC?s numbers vs. Cleveland State compared to the statistics from the first nine games of the season.
APPROACHING 200: UC head coach Brian Cleary is closing in on a coaching milestone, as he is just 11 wins shy of the 200-victory plateau for his career. Already the second winningest coach in school history, Cleary holds a career record of 189-275-1 (.408). The legendary Glenn Sample is the all-time winningest coach in program history with 391 career victories.
COMING ON STRONG: After going just 1-for-15 in the opening weekend at Florida Atlantic, junior 3B Jon DeLuca has gone 16-for-39 (.410) over his last nine games to raise his batting average to .315. 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.
STREAKING CATS: A pair of Bearcats enter the Western Michigan series on a tear, as Jon DeLuca has hit safely in a career-best 10 straight games and LaFringe Hayes has hit in eight consecutive games. DeLuca has batted .386 with five doubles and 12 RBI during the streak, while Hayes is hitting at a .421 clip, with 15 runs scored, four triples and four RBI.
BRIAN?S SONG: It was good to be a Bearcat named Brian during UC?s trip to Wake Forest, Feb. 25-27 as all three 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. Szarmach carried the momentum on to the Cleveland State series where he hit .417, including the first three-hit day of his career.
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 .338 (53-for-157), with six doubles, seven triples, four home runs, 26 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Haske leads the team in hitting at .426 and is tied with Hayes for first in runs (18). Parker is tops in homers with three and is second in RBI (13), while Hayes is first in triples (5) and stolen bases (5).
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.
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.
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 12 games this season, the duo has combined to nab nine of UC?s 15 stolen bases. The additional speed has helped the Bearcats to a ranking of fifth in C-USA this year.
FAST START, SLOW END: The Bearcats have gotten many games off to a good start this season, as they are outscoring their opponents 23-8 in the first two innings of games and batting a combined .317 in those frames. Conversely, UC has struggled in the late innings, being outscored 20-6 in innings eight and nine, while batting a paltry .157.
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 four of his starts this season, posting a 2-0 record and a 2.28 ERA. Against Cleveland State on March 4, Maynard tossed a career-best 8.0 shutout innings, matching his career-high with six strikeouts and issuing no walks. In this week?s Conference USA rankings, Maynard finds himself ranked among the league leaders in innings pitched (third-27.2) and ERA (sixth).
...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 is holding opponents to a .176 batting average. The senior has appeared in a team-best seven games so far this year, recording two saves and striking out a team-best 16 hitters. Kay?s 3.27 ERA ranks third on the team.
HARD TO HIT: While the Bearcats rank ninth in Conference USA in ERA this week, it?s not because opponents are racking up the hits. UC?s pitching staff ranks fifth in the league in opponent?s batting average at a .261 clip. Two of Cincinnati?s hurlers rank in the top 10 in the league in opponents? batting average, led by Sean Munninghoff in fourth with a scant .180 opponents? batting average. Bryan Wood ranks seventh at .196. Josh Kay is holding opponents to a .162 batting average, but hasn?t thrown enough innings this season to qualify.
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 (72) than any team in Conference USA and are second in hit by pitch (14). The inconsistency has come in spurts however, as UC walked only 15 at Duke Feb. 18-20 and five last weekend vs. Cleveland State, but saw 27 batters draw bases on balls and 10 more be hit by pitches Feb. 25-27 at Wake Forest.
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.
UNLIKELY POWER: Entering this season, the Bearcats expected power from players like Jon DeLuca, Neall French, Jack Nelson and Logan Parker. But in the early stages of 2005, 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.
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 six games and is hitting .261. 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) and followed that up with a .417 performance vs. Cleveland State. His performance against the Vikings raised his average to .289, while his six RBI are already a career-high.
MORE BONUS BASEBALL: For the third straight Opening Day, the Bearcats went extra innings, as they dropped a 7-6, 13-inning contest 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 win over 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.
DELUCA EARNS C-USA HONOR: Jon DeLuca, who helped the Bearcats to a 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.
FIRST WINS: A trio of Bearcat hurlers have broken into the win column for the first time in their careers in 2005. Bryan Wood was the first to earn his initial triumph, getting a relief win on Feb. 19 at Duke. One day later, it was Sean Munninghoff picking up a W against the Blue Devils. Kevin Schrader was the most recent first time winner, as he beat Cleveland State on March 5.
SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM Building on its strong tradition of academic success, the Bearcat Baseball team had another outstanding quarter during the Fall of 2004. For the quarter, the team posted a cumulative grade point average of 2.89, while eight student-athletes earned a TopCat Scholar award (GPA over 3.5) and 12 were named Bearcat Scholars (GPA over 3.0). In all, 23 of the team's 31 players, earned a GPA of 2.5 or above. Additionally, freshman Dustin Alvey was recognized as the squad?s Scholar-Athlete of the quarter after posting a perfect 4.0 GPA in his first collegiate quarter. Below is a look at the players honored
Topcat Scholars (GPA?s between 3.5-4.0): Dustin Alvey, Nick Buscemi, Mike Foley, Jake Geglein, LaFringe Hayes, Pat LeMasters, Jack Nelson, David Oberly.
Bearcat Scholars (GPA?s between 3.0-3.5): Brian Beltz, Jon DeLuca, Erik Eitel, Neall French, Mark Haske, Josh Kay, Chase Lampl, Mark Muscenti, Logan Parker, Evan Sanford.