TicketsBearcats To Launch Midweek Schedule
UC to face Notre Dame, Toledo this week
Contact: Shawn Sell
3/21/2005
Justin Minges will make his first start of the year Tuesday at Notre Dame. |
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati baseball team opens the midweek portion of its 2005 schedule this week, with a pair of contest. The Bearcats will travel to future BIG EAST foe Notre Dame on Tuesday (March 22) for a 5 p.m. contest, before returning home to host Toledo a day later at 4 p.m. The two contests will be a tune-up for UC?s trip to Southern Miss this weekend. The Bearcats enter the week with an 8-8 record after getting swept in the opening weekend of Conference USA play by Louisville. Notre Dame is 7-9 on the year, while Toledo holds a 5-10 mark.
NOTES FROM LOUISVILLE:
? UC saw its five-game win streak halted with a sweep by Louisville.
? Both Jon DeLuca (12 games) and LaFringe Hayes (11 games) had their career-long hit streaks snapped.
? Kyle Markle worked 6.1 shutout innings in two games, allowing just one hit.
? Logan Parker recorded the first three-hit game of his career, including a pair of doubles in the first game of Sunday?s doubleheader. He also added his team-best fourth home run in the series opener.
? The 15 runs allowed in the series opener were the most yielded by the Bearcats since a 32-run outburst by East Carolina last April.
? Mark Muscenti extended his season-best hitting streak to five games with two hits in the second game of Sunday?s doubleheader.
ABOUT NOTRE DAME: The Irish have gotten the 2005 season off to a slow start as they are just 7-9 after dropping contests to South Dakota State and Evansville last weekend. Notre Dame has had little trouble at the plate, as they are hitting .303 as a team. Senior INF Matt Edwards is leading the team in hitting (.369), homers (5) and RBI (21). The Irish hurlers have struggled, posting a team ERA of 6.06, with opponents hitting .336. Prior to the season, Baseball America picked Notre Dame to win the Big East Championship.
ABOUT TOLEDO: Toledo split a four-game series at West Virginia over the weekend and stands at 5-10 on the year prior to the start of Mid-American Conference play this weekend. Offensively, Toledo is hitting .251 as a squad, paced by 1B Travis Pilewski?s .353 average. Classmate Jason Watson leads the team in both home runs (2) and RBI (11), but is batting just .246 on the season. Pitching has been a problem for UT this season, as the staff holds a 7.69 ERA and is allowing opponents to hit .331. Sophomore righthander Greg Gompf has been a bright spot for the Rockets as he is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA and a .132 opponents batting average. Prior to the season, Baseball America picked Toledo to finish last in the west division of the MAC.
UC AGAINST THE BIG EAST: Cincinnati has played 36 games against current members of the BIG EAST since 1958, with Notre Dame being the most frequent opponent. The Bearcats hold a record of 13-23 (.361) against members of the BIG EAST, a conference they will join for all sports in 2005-06. UC has a record of 5-16 against Notre Dame and has also faced Pittsburgh (1-0) and West Virginia (7-7). Notre Dame is the only BIG EAST team the Bearcats are scheduled to face this year.
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 12-13-1 mark against Toledo. 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 Western Michigan (2-3). 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), and Ohio.
AN OLD FRIEND: Wednesday?s UC-Toledo match-up will feature a reunion for head coaches Brian Cleary and Cory Mee. Mee is a 1992 graduate of Notre Dame, where Cleary served as an assistant during Mee?s senior year. The duo went on to coach together on the Irish staff in 1993.
UC ADDS TO SCHEDULE: Because of two weather-related cancellations last weekend, the UC has added a single contest against Xavier to its upcoming schedule. The game will be played on Monday, April 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the UC Baseball Stadium.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: After struggling through a tough 2004 season that saw UC post a record of just 3-13 in the first 16 games of the year, the Bearcats have shown a huge turnaround through 16 games this season. In addition to winning five more games, the Bearcats have also bettered their numbers in nearly every hitting and pitching total.
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 16 games this season, the duo has combined to nab 11 of UC?s 17 stolen bases. The additional speed has helped the Bearcats to rank ninth in C-USA this year.
A SPARKLING WEEKEND: Coming into this season, senior Kyle Markle was expected to be an integral part of the Bearcats? bullpen, but the former Freshman All-American struggled in the early stages of the season, holding a 12.15 ERA in his first six appearances covering 6.2 innings. Things may have started to turn around for Markle as he was dominant over the weekend vs. Louisville. In two appearances spanning 6.1 innings, Markle held the Cardinals scoreless and limited them to just one hit. His weekend performance lowered his season ERA to 6.23.
APPROACHING 200: UC head coach Brian Cleary is closing in on a coaching milestone, as he is just 10 wins shy of the 200-victory plateau for his career. Already the second winningest coach in school history, Cleary holds a career record of 190-278-1 (.406). The legendary Glenn Sample is the all-time winningest coach in program history with 391 career victories.
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.
ANOTHER SWEEP: After winning just one series last season, the Bearcats have already won two 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).
COMING ON STRONG: After going just 1-for-15 in the opening weekend at Florida Atlantic, junior 3B Jon DeLuca delivered a career-best 12-game hit streak that saw him hit .370. 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.
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. 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 went down as the first in UC Baseball Stadium history. After ranking last in C-USA in 2004 with just five triples, the Bearcats have already bettered the total with eight three-baggers in only 16 games this year and are fourth in the conference in the category.
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 this season, posting a 3-0 record and a 2.95 ERA. Against Xavier on March 13, Maynard turned in the best outing of his collegiate career, holding the Musketeers hitless into the eighth inning. For the day, Maynard matched his career-best with eight innings of work, surrendering just one hit and one walk and striking out a career-high seven. In this week?s Conference USA rankings, Maynard finds himself ranked among the league leaders in ERA (seventh), innings pitched (fourth-39.2) and wins (T-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 as he is holding opponents to a .178 batting average. The senior has appeared in a team-best nine games , recording two saves and striking out 17 hitters. Kay?s 3.46 ERA ranks second on the team.
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.
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.
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 23 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 is 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA, while limiting opponents to a .239 batting average. 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.
WELCOME ADDITIONS: The Bearcat line-up has enjoyed the 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 .305 (68-for-203), with 11 doubles, seven triples, five home runs, 33 RBI and 13 stolen bases. Haske leads the team in hitting at .359 and is second in runs (19), triples (2) and stolen bases (4). Hayes is second in hitting at .357 and leads the club in runs (22), triples (5) and stolen bases (7). Parker is tops on the squad with four homers and is second with 15 RBI.
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 11 homers, Parker has made an immediate impact in the Bearcat line-up with the other four longballs.
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.
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. Beltz has started nine games and is hitting .290. 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. For the year, Szarmach is hitting .250 and has recorded career-highs in doubles (four), homers (two) and RBI (seven).