TicketsBearcats Miss Sweep With 6-5 Setback
Hayes has four hits in defeat
Contact: Shawn Sell
4/17/2005
LaFringe Hayes had four hits and three RBI Sunday vs. Charlotte. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Cincinnati got the tying run to second base with no outs in the ninth inning, but Charlotte?s Erik Walker shut the door on UC?s comeback plans as the 49ers squeaked out a 6-5 win over the Bearcats in Conference USA baseball action on Sunday afternoon. The Charlotte win allowed the 49ers to avoid being swept and snapped the Bearcats? five-game win streak.
Down a run, Logan Parker doubled to right center to open the ninth inning, but Walker bounced back to retire Brian Szarmach, Jack Nelson and Mark Muscenti in order to nail down the Charlotte win. Walker picked up his eighth save of the season, preserving starter Matt Landphair?s third win of the year against four defeats.
The win by Charlotte once again jumbles up the C-USA standings as the 49ers jump back over the Bearcats into ninth place in the league race with a 6-9 conference mark. Charlotte is 21-14 overall with the victory. UC slips to 5-9 in league action and 15-17 on the year. East Carolina kept its bid alive for a spot in the tourney with a sweep at Louisville this weekend.
The Bearcats were handed the defeat despite outhitting the 49ers by an 11-8 count. LaFringe Hayes tallied four hits and three RBI, while Parker added a pair of hits. Charlotte got a pair of hits apiece from Cory Lane and Chris Taylor. Kevin Schrader was dealt the defeat for the Bearcats, falling to 1-4 on the year.
?We were able to fight back today and make a great game of it again,? said Bearcat head coach Brian Cleary. ?I thought we played hard and gave ourselves a chance to win in the end. When you get off to a tough start like we did, though, it?s tough to win.?
Schrader?s day got off to a rocky start as he hit lead-off batter O?Brien Taylor, before walking the next two hitters. Adam Willard drove in one run with an RBI groundout, while Spencer Steedley followed with a sacrifice fly. Chris Taylor then made it an early 3-0 Charlotte lead with an RBI single.
The 49ers opened the lead to 4-0 in the third as Lane greeted reliever Matt Heber with a home run to right. UC finally got on the board in its half of the third on Jon DeLuca?s double down the left field line that scored Hayes from first.
Charlotte tacked on run number five in the fourth inning as Chris Lane singled home Chris Taylor after the latter led the inning off with a triple up the left center field alley.
Cincinnati would score the game?s next two runs, with Hayes driving in both. The speedy lead off man grounded a single through the right side in the fourth that scored Muscenti, then again brought Muscenti around with a double to left in the sixth.
Throughout the game, the Bearcats found themselves with ample scoring opportunities, as they left a total of 11 runners on base for the game. Of those runners, eight were left in scoring position.
After Charlotte went up by a 6-3 score on John Stalling RBI triple in the eighth, the Bearcats made one final push in its half of the frame. With one out, Muscenti singled and moved to second when pinch-hitter Pat LeMasters was hit by a pitch. LeMasters was then forced at second as Jim Olds hit into a fielder?s choice. With Hayes at the plate, 49er reliever Keith Moreland uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Muscenti to score. Hayes then banged a single through the right side that made it 6-5 and spelled the end of the day for Moreland. Walker walked Mark Haske, the first hitter he faced, but then got DeLuca to fly out to right to end the inning.
The Bearcats will now return home to meet Kentucky on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The home contest is one of just two in an eight-game stretch that will see the Bearcats travel on consecutive weekends to UAB and East Carolina.