TicketsBearcats Finish Season Sweep Of Xavier
Eitel drives in four in 9-2 win
Contact: Shawn Sell
5/11/2005
Erik Eitel had a career-high four RBI in UC's win over Xavier. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Cincinnati finished off a season sweep of Xavier and extended its overall streak to four straight over its crosstown rival with a 9-2 win on Wednesday night in front of a crowd of 681 at the UC Baseball Stadium. The win improves the Bearcats record to 22-26 on the year.
Erik Eitel drove in a career-high four runs in the game, while he and Jon DeLuca each tallied three hits. Nick Buscemi anchored a solid outing for the Bearcat pitching staff, holding Xavier to just one run in five-plus innings of work to pick up his third win of 2005. Starter Mike Creevy was dealt the loss for Xavier who slips to 18-31 with the defeat.
?I really felt like the student turnout we had tonight made a difference for us,? said Bearcat head coach Brian Cleary. ?Not only were they enthusiastic and rowdy, but they were really classy as well. I just want to thank them all for coming out and encourage them to come back again and support our team anytime.?
The Bearcats got the night off right, jumping to a 3-0 lead after three innings of play. Eitel tallied the first of his four RBI in the second when his two-out single to right plated DeLuca. UC continued its scoring in the third, getting back-to-back doubles by LaFringe Hayes and Mark Muscenti to score one run. Mark Haske then dropped a single to left center that made it a 3-0 ballgame.
In the fifth, UC tallied two more runs and would have had more if not for a sensational play by the Xavier defense that resulted in a triple play. After a run-scoring double by Logan Parker and an RBI single by DeLuca, runners were on the corners with nobody out and Jim Olds at the plate. The Bearcats attempted a squeeze play, but Olds popped the bunt attempt up and Xavier pitcher Brett Smith made a diving play for out number one. An alert Smith then fired to third to double up Parker and the throw to first beat DeLuca for the rare triple play.
Xavier seemed to carry the momentum of the triple play into the sixth as Jay Johnson led off with a double and came around to score on a Jordan Wolf single. But after allowing Wolf?s base hit, reliever Matt Heber retired three straight to end the inning. The Musketeers got their final run of the night in the eighth when Johnson lifted a one-out homer to left center.
Leading by just a 5-2 score heading into the eighth, the Bearcats opened the contest up with a four-run outburst that saw all nine UC players bat. Parker led the frame off with a walk and moved to third on DeLuca?s double. With Xavier?s infield drawn in, Olds then grounded out to second. After an intentional walk to Jack Nelson loaded the bases, Eitel made the Musketeers pay in a big way when he ripped his first triple of the season to right center to clear the bases. Brian Beltz then grounded a single past a still drawn in XU infield to score Eitel and make it 9-2.
Johnson paced the Musketeer attack with four of the team?s eight hits, missing the cycle by just a triple. Creevy allowed five runs on nine hits in four-plus innings to fall to 4-6 on the year.
After Buscemi left, the Bearcat trio of Heber, Kyle Markle and Josh Kay limited Xavier to just Johnson?s home run in four innings of work.
?I thought Nick gave us his best outing of the season,? Cleary continued. ?He did a good job of staying in front in the count and keeping the ball down. If we could have scripted how we wanted tonight to play out in terms of how we used our pitchers, I think it went the way we wanted.?
The Bearcats will continue their homestand with a visit from Memphis this weekend. Action from the UC Baseball Stadium gets underway on Friday at 6:30 p.m.