TicketsBearcats Battered In Season Finale
UC wraps up year 25-30
Contact: Shawn Sell
5/21/2005
Logan Parker hit his 11th homer of the year on Saturday. |
TAMPA, Fla.---USF hit four home runs, including two by Jeremy Brand as the Bulls handed Cincinnati an 18-8 defeat in the final game of the 2005 season for the Bearcats. UC concludes the season 25-30 overall and 10-19 in its final season of Conference USA play.
Brand, playing in his final home game for USF, totaled seven RBI on the day, including his seventh inning grand slam. Brian Baisley and Brandin Daniel also homered for USF. The Bulls improve to 32-29, 15-14 in C-USA with the win, clinching the sixth seed for next week?s conference tournament presented by POWERade.
Logan Parker wrapped up the season with a big day for the Bearcats, going 3-for-5, including his team-leading 11th home run of the season. Dustin Alvey added three hits off the bench for UC.
For the second day in a row, the Bearcats dug themselves a sizable hole, as USF exploded for five first inning runs, highlighted by Baisley?s three-run blast. The Bearcats did come back to tie the game with an RBI single by Jack Nelson and a run-scoring double in the second, then tied it on Parker?s three-run long ball in the third.
But the score wouldn?t remain knotted for long as Daniel?s two-run homer in the third inning pushed the Bulls back in front 7-5. USF extended its lead to five when Brand hit his first of two homers, a three-run job in the last of the fifth.
UC tried to make a game of it with two runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to draw within 10-8. In the sixth, LaFringe Hayes picked up an RBI single to plate Alvey and Mark Haske tacked on a sacrifice fly that brought Mark Muscenti across. The seventh inning saw Alvey knock home Jim Olds with an RBI single to round out the UC scoring.
The Bulls blew the game open with a seven-run seventh inning that saw 11 USF players come to bat. Brand provided the big hit of the inning with his grand slam, while Joey Angelberger added a two-run single.
Ty Pryor picked up the win in relief for USF, improving to 5-3 on the year. Kevin Schrader was solid, but took the loss out of the UC pen. He finishes the year at 1-5.
Olds put a nice exclamation point on his career as his seventh inning single improved his career-best hitting streak to 13 games. Hayes and Muscenti added two hits apiece for the Bearcats.
As stated, the Bearcats finished the year 25-30 overall, registering the squad?s most wins since a 26-win campaign in 2002. The 10 conference wins are also the most for the Bearcats since winning 11 in 2002.