TicketsBearcats Out For Wins At UAB
UC 10th in C-USA standings
Contact: Shawn Sell
4/22/2005
Jim Olds is hitting .313 in his last five games. |
SETTING THE SCENE: Cincinnati will look to improve upon its Conference USA standing when it opens a three-game series at fifth-place UAB on Friday (April 22) at 7 p.m. CT. The Bearcats, winners of six of their last seven contests, have climbed into 10th-place in the C-USA standings after starting the season 0-6 in league play. UC sports an overall record of 16-17 and is 5-9 in league play, just one-game back of ninth-place Charlotte. UAB has dropped three straight and four of its last five to fall to 23-14 overall and 8-7 in C-USA play.
NOTES FROM KENTUCKY:
? Kyle Markle picked up the first save of his collegiate career with 3.1 shutout innings against the Wildcats.
? Mark Haske recorded his first four-hit game as a Bearcat with four singles.
? UC?s win snapped its seven-game losing streak to SEC schools that dated back to the 2003 season.
? Brian Szarmach had his career-best hit streak halted at seven games, while Haske improved his current string to six in a row.
? Mark Muscenti has hit by a pitch twice, giving him five HBP?s in the last two games. Already UC?s career leader in the category, Muscenti has been hit 51 times in his career.
? A season-best crowd of 1,013 attended the UC-UK tilt as UC Baseball Stadium held its first-ever Greek Night. The crowd was the second-biggest in stadium history, topped by only the estimated crowd of 2,200 that witnessed the first game at the facility on May 20, 2004.
ABOUT UAB: The Blazers are 23-14 this season and 8-7 in Conference USA, good for fifth place in the league standings. UAB has lost three in a row and four of its last five entering the series, including dropping two of three at USF last weekend. The UAB offense ranks sixth in the conference with a .284 batting average and averages 6.7 runs per game. Freshman OF Clint Toomey is one of four Blazer players batting over .300, as comes in at .341. Nathan McCorkle and Cole Helms are the big power hitters and run suppliers, with seven and six home runs, respectively, along with a team-high 31 RBI each. Zac Ward has also driven in 31 runs this season. On the mound, Helms has become one of UAB?s top hurlers, holding a 2-0 record and a 2.57 ERA in four starts. Jeff Brown is 5-2 with a 4.43 ERA in 10 starts, while Eric Roberts has recorded two wins and seven saves in 20 appearances out of the bullpen. UC will face a stiff challenge this weekend, as the Blazers are 18-4 at Young Memorial Field this season.
UC AGAINST CONFERENCE USA: In their 10th and final season of Conference USA play, the Bearcats hold an all-time conference record of 72-179-1 (.288). UC has played a total of 561 games against current C-USA members since 1958, holding a record of 220-339-1 (.393), including a 19-36 mark against UAB. UC?s record against other C-USA opponents includes Charlotte (15-13), East Carolina (2-6-1), Houston (7-24), Louisville (63-63), Memphis (26-54), Saint Louis (47-43), Southern Miss (9-37), TCU (1-8), Tulane (7-35) and USF (6-20). Per conference rules, UC will not face one member of the league this year and this season, will skip Tulane.
UC ADDS TO SCHEDULE: The Bearcats have added to their 2005 schedule with the addition of a single game vs. Wilmington College. The contest, to be played in the UC Baseball Stadium will take place on Monday, April 25 at 6:30 p.m.
MAKING A CASE: Long valued as a reliable utility player, senior Jim Olds has made a case over the last two weeks to be the Bearcats? starting catcher for the balance of the season. This season, Olds, junior Neall French and freshman Dustin Alvey have all shared time behind the plate, but as of late, its been Olds that has had the hot hand. Olds has started five of the last six games behind the plate and is hitting .313 (5-for-16) during the stretch. In addition to his first career triple, Olds also has a double, two RBI and three runs scored.
APPROACHING 200: UC head coach Brian Cleary is closing in on a coaching milestone, as he is just two wins shy of the 200-victory plateau for his career. Already the second winningest coach in school history, Cleary holds a career record of 198-287-1 (.408). The legendary Glenn Sample heads the list with 391 career victories.
BACK TO FORM: 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 an 18.69 ERA in his first four appearances covering 4.1 innings. But since the beginning of March, Markle has become one of UC?s most reliable relievers. In his last 12 appearances, Markle has allowed just five runs and 13 hits in 23.2 innings, lowering his ERA to 4.50. His opponents batting average during the run is only .167, while his ERA is 1.90. On April 16 vs. Charlotte, Markle earned his first win since May 3, 2002, also against the 49ers. In his next appearance on April 20 vs. Kentucky, Markle tossed 3.1 shutout innings for his first career save.
SERIES SUCCESS: The Bearcats have reversed their series fortunes of the past two seasons this year with a total of four series triumphs, including two straight. Early this season, UC picked up sweeps at Duke and at home vs. Cleveland State, snapping a nearly two-year drought without a non-conference series win. In the past two weekends, the Bearcats have taken two of three games against both Saint Louis and Charlotte for their first back-to-back conference series wins since beating Tulane and Charlotte in 2002.
PLAYING ?EM TIGHT: UC has shown improvement in close games this year, as they are 5-6 in games decided by two runs or less. The Bearcats were just 5-10 in those games last year.
BUCKEYE STRENGTH: UC?s win over Xavier on April 14 improved the Bearcats? record to 6-1 against Ohio schools this season. In addition to the Xavier win, Cincinnati has also swept three games from Cleveland State, while taking a prior single contest from Xavier and one vs. Toledo. The Bearcats will have more chances to battle fellow Buckeye schools as they are scheduled to meet Miami (twice), Kent State, Wilmington, and Xavier (once each) before season?s end. UC has won 10 of its last 12 games against Ohio adversaries, including three straight against Xavier.
ON A TEAR: LaFringe Hayes made his return to the line-up April 9 at Saint Louis and despite a two-week lay off, showed no signs of slowing down. For the weekend, Hayes went 7-for-9 (.778), logging the first four-hit game of his UC career. In his last 22 games, 19 of which saw him gather at least one hit, Hayes is hitting a blistering .461 (41-for-89). During the stretch Hayes has scored 28 runs, with seven doubles, four triples, 12 RBI and eight stolen bases. In this week?s Conference USA statistics, Hayes? .411 batting average ranks second.
STRONG AT THE FRONT...: The Bearcats have found the ace to their starting rotation in senior Tony Maynard. The former Freshman All-American has been solid this season, posting a 5-2 record and a 3.71 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 worked eight innings, surrendering just one hit and one walk and striking out a career-high seven. Maynard had another outstanding outing April 15 vs. Charlotte as he crafted a four-hit complete game. The nine-inning outing was the longest of Maynard?s career and represented his second career complete game. In this week?s Conference USA rankings, Maynard finds himself ranked among the league leaders in innings pitched (T7th-63.0), wins (T7th-5) and ERA (9th).
...AND AT THE BACK: UC has 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 .205 batting average. The senior has appeared in a team-best 18 games, recording four saves and striking out 34 hitters in just 25 innings. Kay?s 2.16 ERA ranks first on the team. His four saves this season are also the most by a Bearcat hurler since Nate Bouldin?s five in 2002.
IT MUST BE THE CATCHER: Neall French?s home run on April 14 at Xavier continued a run of success for Bearcat backstops in games played at Hayden Field. In UC?s last eight games at Xavier, its catchers have homered in six of the contests, for a total of eight longballs. Steve Pickerell was the biggest power threat, smashing six round trippers in six games. French and Chris Hamblen added the other two deep balls.
TWICE AS NICE: With a pair of home runs at Saint Louis April 8-10 and another at Xavier on April 14, sophomore OF Brian Szarmach took over the team lead with seven longballs this season. While Szarmach has developed into one of the Bearcats? most consistent power threats, the majority of his home runs have been coming two at a time. At Wake Forest Feb. 25-27, Szarmach blasted the first two homers of his collegiate career. He did the same thing March 25-27 at Southern Miss and repeated the feat once more at Saint Louis. In addition to the power numbers, Szarmach has also shown more consistency at the plate, hitting .292 (19-for-65) in his last 16 games to raise his batting average to .274. Included in the recent hot streak for Szarmach was a career-long seven game hit streak that saw him bat .387 (12-for-31).
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: After struggling through a tough 2004 season that saw UC post a record of just 7-26 in the first 33 games of the year, the Bearcats have shown a huge turnaround through 33 games this season. In addition to winning nine more games, the Bearcats have also shown great improvement on the mound. With a win in game one of an April 3 doubleheader vs. Houston, UC reached 10 wins in their 23rd contest of the year, a feat that didn?t come until game number 44 last season. The Bearcats? April 16 win over Charlotte was the team?s 15th of the year, matching the win total of each of the past two seasons.
NOT SO FAST: While junior DH Jack Nelson isn?t enjoying the same offensive success he did in 2004, its not because of strikeouts. In the first round of NCAA national rankings released last week, Nelson is listed as the 17th toughest player in the nation to strikeout, going down just once every 20.0 at-bats. Nelson has shown his patience with 17 walks and just six strikeouts in 147 total plate appearances.
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.
SNAPPING A STREAK: Cincinnati?s win in game one of an April 3 doubleheader vs. Houston marked the end of a frustrating stretch for the Bearcats. Prior to that victory, UC had dropped its last seven straight to the Cougars, its longest streak against any Conference USA opponent entering the season. With that streak behind them, the Bearcats will next try to end a six-game losing streak to Memphis. That series will take place at home, May 13-15.
IRON MEN: The Bearcats? infield has shown their durability during the 2005 season as the foursome of 1B Logan Parker, 2B Mark Muscenti, 3B Jon DeLuca and SS Mark Haske have combined to play all but three innings at their respective positions. DeLuca was the first to get a break as he sat down for the ninth inning of UC?s win over Toledo on March 23. The continuity has proved valuable as the infield holds a combined .977 fielding percentage and is tied for second in Conference USA with 40 double plays. In the NCAA National rankings, the Bearcats are 13th in double plays per game with 1.19. Muscenti had one of his best performances on April 15 vs. Charlotte, as he totaled the second most assists by any player in a Conference USA contest with 10.
CONFERENCE KILLERS: In spite of a 5-9 Conference USA record, several Bearcats find themselves ranked high in the conference-only stats. A summary of those players? performances follows:
? Brian Szarmach is tied for fourth with four home runs during league play.
? LaFringe Hayes and Logan Parker are two of 12 players tied for eighth with five doubles.
? Kyle Markle is third in opponents batting average (.148) and is fifth with a 2.65 ERA. The senior is also tied for tied for fourth with eight appearances.
? Josh Kay is tied for fourth with two saves and is tied for ninth with seven appearances.
WELCOME ADDITIONS: The Bearcats have enjoyed the contributions of newcomers Mark Haske, LaFringe Hayes and Logan Parker as the trio have been mainstays in the line-up. As a group, the threesome is batting .337 (129-for-383), with 25 doubles, eight triples, seven home runs, 55 RBI and 16 stolen bases. Hayes leads the team in hitting at .411 and is also tops in runs (31), triples (five) and stolen bases (10) and is second with 44 hits. Haske leads the squad with 46 hits and is second in hitting (.333), runs (30), triples (two) and stolen bases (four). Parker is second on the squad with five homers and is tied for second with 23 RBI.
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 12 three-baggers in 33 games this year and are tied for second in the conference in the category. UC made the jump back up to second with four last weekend vs. Charlotte, including the first of Jim Olds, Logan Parker and Brian Szarmach?s respective careers. Hayes has a shot at the school record for triples in a season as his five already tie him for fourth in school annals. Billy Wolff set the record with nine in 1965.
FIRST WINS: A total of five 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 then beat Cleveland State on March 5, prior to Matt Heber getting a relief triumph April 10 at Saint Louis. David Theobald was the latest first-time winner, beating Xavier on April 14.
CONTINUING TO HIT: While junior 2B Mark Muscenti is enjoying a season that has seen him hit a career-best .298, he is also doing what he has gotten a reputation for, getting hit by pitches. In the last two games, Muscenti has been hit five times, pushing him to the top of the conference rankings with 14. For his career, Muscenti has been hit a school record 51 times.