TicketsMarch 18, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Cincinnati extended its winning streak to six games and in the process clinched its fifth straight series victory with a doubleheader sweep of Oakland on Saturday at the UC Baseball Stadium. The Bearcats survived a slugfest in the opener, winning by a 20-12 score, before grinding out a 6-2 victory in the nightcap.
The story of the day for Cincinnati was the play of the senior duo of Jon DeLuca and Logan Parker. In two games, the pair collected 11 hits, while scoring seven times and driving in 12. DeLuca opened the day with a 5 for 6 performance in game one, while Parker homered twice and drove in seven. Glen Simon and A.J. Upton picked up pitching victories for UC which improves to 12-6 on the season. Oakland is 1-11 with the defeats.
"I thought we did a good job of coming out ready to play and keeping our foot on the gas from the start of game one," stated UC head coach Brian Cleary. "Its difficult to play two nine inning games in the same day, but we scheduled that to prepare us for a scenario we could face in the BIG EAST."
The pace of the afternoon was set early as nearly 45 minutes had passed by the end of the first inning of game one with the scoreboard showing a 5-1 lead for the Bearcats. After Oakland got one in its half, UC roared back, getting the first of two three-run homers by Parker to highlight the outbreak. DeLuca also started his hot swinging with an RBI double.
Oakland would cut the lead to 5-3 in the second, but found themselves down five after DeLuca, Nick Maragas and LaFringe Hayes all collected RBI in the third inning. UC would continue to pour it on with a single run in the fourth, before sending 11 hitters to the plate in a five-run fifth inning. Parker was at the center of the big fifth inning as he followed Josh Harrison's two-run single with his second long ball of the afternoon, making it 14-4 through five innings.
In the sixth, Parker was at it again, tripling into the right field corner to score Harrison, than coming home on Jack Nelson's double. UC rounded out its scoring with a single run in the seventh and then three more in the eighth, highlighted by DeLuca's triple and run-scoring singles by Adam Yeager and Harrison.
Oakland, meanwhile, after following behind 17-4 made it interesting with eight runs in the last two frames against Kevin Schrader. Andy Brinker greeted Schrader with a solo homer in the eighth, before the Grizzlies sent 11 men to the plate in a six-run ninth inning. The ninth inning saw six different OU players tally RBI as the Grizzlies pounded out six hits.
Simon improved to 4-1 with the victory and has now won three straight decisions. The junior allowed four runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts, before leaving after five innings. OU starter Aaron Hines took the defeat after yielding nine runs and 10 hits in four innings.
Rob Merkle was the hitting star of game one for Oakland, going 4 for 4. Tim Doig and Kevin Carkeek each had two RBI in the defeat.
The second game of the twinbill was a nip and tuck battle that really wasn't decided until the end of the sixth inning when UC got help from an unlikely source. With runners on second and third and two out in a tied game, Yeager played the role of hero, ripping a two-run triple down the right field line that plated the two game winning runs. From there, it was the pitching of Upton that brought the victory home for the Bearcats.
In the finale of the doubleheader, UC jumped on the scoreboard first, getting a Nelson sacrifice fly in the first for a 1-0 lead. Oakland came back to take the lead in the third when Kyle Crepeau drove a two-run single up the middle against Kyle Rapp.
UC came back to tie the score in the fifth on a Parker sacrifice fly before going ahead thanks to Yeager in the sixth. The Bearcats added two insurance runs in the seventh, the first coming when Harrison raced home on a wild pitch and the second courtesy of a DeLuca RBI double.
Upton ended up turning in one of the finest performances of his career in earning his first win. The sophomore hurled a career-best 4.1 shutout inning, allowing Oakland just one hit and two walks and fanning a personal-best four hitters.
Harrison and DeLuca each collected two of Cincinnati's six hits in the nightcap as UC finished the two games with 24 total hits. No Oakland player had more than one hit in game two.
Oakland starter Bryan Bishop pitched well for the Grizzlies, but took the loss after allowing five runs and five hits in six innings.
The Bearcats will go for the series sweep when the two teams contest game three beginning at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Freshman Steve Blevins will start for Cincinnati, taking on Oakland's John Toth.