TicketsApril 19, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Cincinnati used a nine-run second inning and six extra-base hits to score an 11-9 win over in-state rival Dayton on Wednesday night in the UC Baseball Stadium. The victory snapped the Bearcats' three-game losing streak and improved the squad's 2006 record to 21-15.
Trailing by three heading into the bottom of the second, UC sent 12 batters to the plate, collecting seven hits to assume the lead for good. The Bearcats did all of their damage before the first out of the inning was recorded.
Brian Szarmach continued his recent hot streak with a 3 for 5 performance at the plate, including three RBI. LaFringe Hayes and Josh Harrison each had two hits, while the former and Logan Parker drove in two runs each. Matt Heber pitched three quality innings to secure his first career save in relief of winning pitcher Adam Calez (2-0).
Dayton falls to 20-14 with the defeat. The Flyers got two RBI apiece from Bryan Chandler, Craig Rohren and Josh Burt, but no player collected more than one hit. Luke Trubee (5-5), a preseason All-American selection, was one of six Dayton pitchers to take the hill. He was hit with the defeat after allowing four runs in just over one inning of work.
"It was good to bounce back after a disappointing outcome on Monday," UC head coach Brian Cleary. "I think it was important for us to get back into the win column heading into the weekend. I think we did a good job of swinging the bats and swung well against some good pitchers."
The game got started with Calez cruising through the first inning, before Dayton took off in the second. With one out, William Benoit was hit by a Calez offering and Rohren followed with a deep, two-run homer to left center. One out later, Burt followed suit with a solo blast, his fourth, to nearly the same spot.
Trailing 3-0, the Bearcats got the second inning rolling with a Jack Nelson double to right. After a walk and a hit by pitch, Nelson scored UC's first run of the night when Trubee uncorked a wild pitch. Szarmach then drove a double into the right centerfield ally and suddenly the score was knotted at three. Adam Yeager followed with a two-bagger of his own to put the Bearcats up 4-3. After a single by Maragas, Hayes lined a triple to centerfield, scoring two runs and giving him a share of the school record for career three-baggers with 12. Harrison then kept the rally going with a run-scoring single that plated Hayes. Parker then stepped to the plate and ended a 16-game homerless streak with a two-run shot off the scoreboard in rightfield.
Dayton would cut into the Bearcat lead with a Benoit sacrifice fly in the fourth, but the Flyers trailed 11-4 after two Cincinnati runs in the fourth. Harrison led the inning off with a double and went to third on a Parker ground out. Nelson then tallied an RBI on a fielder's choice as Dayton tried unsuccessfully to cut Harrison down at the plate. Nelson would ultimately come around to score on a Szarmach RBI single.
The visitors would get on the comeback trail in the fifth, pushing a pair across against Calez. Chandler cut the UC cushion to 11-6 when he drilled a two-run single up the middle. The Flyers added their third run an inning later when Burt grounded out following a one-out triple by Roberto Ramos.
Entering the seventh inning, Heber took over on the hill for Calez and the sophomore responded with his best outing of the year. Heber yielded just an unearned run in the eighth inning on a Bobby Getty RBI single as he preserved the Bearcat triumph.
"We knew we were a little thin on the mound, so it was good that Adam (Calez) battled and kept us in the game," Cleary added. "I think it's also fair to say that Matt Heber gave us his best outing of the year."
Cincinnati opens an important BIG EAST series on Friday when Georgetown visits for the first-ever meeting between the schools. Both squads, along with West Virginia, stand tied for seventh in the conference standings with identical 5-7 BIG EAST records.