TicketsBearcats Split Twinbill With Houston
UC earns first C-USA win
Contact: Shawn Sell
4/3/2005
Tony Maynard won his fourth game of the year Sunday vs. Houston. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Cincinnati picked up its first conference win of the season, splitting a doubleheader with Houston on Sunday at the UC Baseball Stadium. The Bearcats won the opener by a 2-1 score, with the Cougars taking the nightcap, 14-1.
UC is now 10-14 on the year after the split and 1-7 in Conference USA. Houston improves to 12-16 overall, with a 5-3 league slate. The game one victory snapped a seven-game losing streak for UC vs. the Cougars dating back to the 2002 season.
Senior pitcher Tony Maynard was the story of game one for the Bearcats, as his grit and determination led UC to the win. Maynard (4-1) held the Cougars to only four hits and a run in five-plus innings of work, walking three and striking out three. The senior showed considerable toughness after taking a line drive off the shoulder and face in the fourth inning on a laser off the bat of Brad Lincoln.
?We really needed to get a win today and we accomplished that,? said Bearcat head coach Brian Cleary. ?We got a great pitching performance in the first game from Tony and I thought he showed great toughness after getting hit. Then we had Josh Kay come in and close the door.?
Kay spelled Maynard on the mound, tossing two shutout innings for his third save of the season. Mark Muscenti paced the Bearcat attack with three hits, while Erik Eitel added two.
UC started the scoring in the third, getting back-to-back doubles by Muscenti and Mark Haske against Houston starter and losing pitcher Matt Farrington (5-1). The Cougars rallied to tie the score in the top of the fourth, getting a sacrifice fly by Derek Kingsbury that plated Lincoln.
But the Bearcats had an answer in their half of the fourth as Muscenti drove a single to center that brought Eitel around from second. After the first two hitters of the sixth inning reached, Maynard was lifted in favor of Kay who worked out of the jam and then retired three of four hitters in the seventh to close the game.
Game two was all Houston with the charge led by Kingsbury. Houston?s shortstop accounted for five hits and eight RBI, including a pair of home runs. Lincoln, who started on the mound, helped himself with three RBI, while Kori Williams had two.
The Cougars didn?t waste any time getting started, scoring five runs in the first inning. Kingsbury started the onslaught with a two-run homer and was followed later in the inning by a two-run triple by Williams.
Lincoln started a three-run second inning with a sacrifice fly right before a Kingsbury RBI single. The third inning saw Houston plate a ninth run on another run-scoring single by Kingsbury.
Cincinnati was able to score its only run of the game in the second when Eitel trotted home on a sacrifice fly by Jim Olds.
Justin Minges gave the Bearcats a bright spot as he hurled three shutout innings, limiting Houston to just one hit, with two strikeouts. But David Theobald didn?t have the same luck in the seventh, as he was tagged for five runs in just two-thirds of an inning. Once again, Kingsbury was the culprit as he ripped a grand slam just inside the right field foul pole for the final 14-1 margin.
UC recorded six hits against Lincoln, with Brian Beltz picking up two. Lincoln improved to 3-4 on the year after allowing just one run and six hits with six strikeouts in five innings on the mound. Kevin Schrader (1-3) took the loss after allowing four runs and not making it out of the first inning.
The Bearcats will next be in action on Wednesday (April 6) when Purdue pays a visit to the UC Baseball Stadium for a 6:30 p.m. contest. Fans should note that UC?s scheduled contest with Xavier scheduled for Monday has been cancelled due to an Atlantic 10 Conference rule forcing the Musketeers to make up a rained out conference game from this weekend.