TicketsMaynard, Cats Shutout Xavier
Bearcats extend win streak to five
Contact: Shawn Sell
3/13/2005
Tony Maynard threw eight shutout innings on Sunday vs. Xavier. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Tony Maynard carried a no-hitter in the eighth inning and he and Josh Kay combined for a two-hit shutout as Cincinnati blanked Xavier 6-0 in non-conference baseball action on Sunday afternoon at the UC Baseball Stadium.
Maynard retired the first 13 batters he faced, leaving after eight innings that saw the senior surrender just a single hit and a walk, while striking out a career-high seven. Xavier got its lone hit against Maynard when Adam Lipski sent a chopper up the middle that Mark Muscenti made a play on, but couldn?t throw Lipski out at first base.
Cincinnati improves to 8-5 on the year, already accounting for half of its win total of a season ago. The Bearcats have now won five straight, something UC hasn?t done since the 2001 season. Xavier falls to 2-10 with the defeat. The victory for Maynard improves his record to 3-0 on the season and gives him the 10th win of his collegiate career.
?It was great to get a chance to play this weekend,? said Bearcat head coach Brian Cleary, ?and beating our crosstown rival is always good. I thought we swung the bats well especially considering the layoff we?ve had. But the story of the day was Tony (Maynard). He was just dominant and never let them threaten. When you get pitching like that, it takes a lot of pressure off the offense.?
Neall French collected his first three-hit game of the season, with two of the knocks going for doubles. LaFringe Hayes had two hits to extend his hit streak to nine games, while Jack Nelson and Brian Beltz each picked up a pair of hits. Jon DeLuca?s ninth inning single improved the junior?s career-best hit streak to 11 games.
Cincinnati didn?t waste any time getting on the scoreboard, jumping to a 3-0 lead after two innings. DeLuca drove home the first run of the day with a sacrifice fly in the first that plated Hayes. The Bearcats tagged Xavier starter and losing pitcher Mike Creevy (1-2) for two more in the second, the first coming on a Muscenti RBI single and the second on a balk.
The Bearcats continued the offensive assault against Creevy in the fifth with three more markers. French got the ball rolling, ripping an RBI double up off the right center field fence that brought Brian Szarmach around from first. Beltz then scored French with a single up the middle that made it 5-0. Hayes was the next hitter and he drove a ball into left center, but was thrown out at third in a bid for his sixth triple of the year. Beltz was able to score on the play, but Muscenti stumbled on his way to the plate and Hayes was gunned down for the third out, before Muscenti could cross the plate.
From there, it was all UC?s pitching staff as Maynard and Kay faced just two batters over the 27 minimum. With the eight shutout frames, Maynard extends his consecutive shutout innings streak to 16.2.
The Bearcats will now gear up for the opening of Conference USA play, when rival Louisville visits UC Baseball Stadium next weekend. That series gets underway on Friday (March 18) with a 4 p.m. first pitch. Game two begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday, with the finale set to go at 1 p.m. on Sunday.