TicketsMay 23, 2006
CLEARWATER, Fla.---Cincinnati battled hard against one of the nation's top pitchers, but came up on the wrong end of a 6-2 decision, falling to Connecticut in the opening round of the BIG EAST Championship on Tuesday at Bright House Networks Field.
The Bearcats' touched UConn ace Tim Norton for eight hits, the most he had yielded all season, but saw the Huskies rally for the final five runs of the game to pull out the victory. UC now drops into the loser's bracket where it will battle sixth-seeded Rutgers in an elimination game on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.
Lost in Norton's winning outing was the outstanding performance turned in by Bearcat starting hurler Dan Osterbrock. The Cincinnati-native went the distance, allowing Connecticut eight hits and striking out five. Norton didn't walk a batter in his complete game, while striking out eight.
Connecticut improves to 39-16-1 and will battle No. 3 Louisville at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Cincinnati is 32-25.
Josh Harrison led Cincinnati with two hits, including his 14th double of the year. Jon DeLuca and Adam Calez added two hits each for the Bearcats. Connecticut got three hits from Matt Untiet and two RBI each from Bryan Maler and Dennis Donovan.
UConn got on the board first, putting runners on first and second with two out. Maler made it 1-0, pulling a double inside the left field line that scored Untiet. Osterbrock then got Donovan to fly out to right to end the threat.
Cincinnati enjoyed a two-run outburst in the third to take its first lead of the day. Calez led off with a single and went to second on a Yeager sacrifice bunt. Harrison then drilled a double over the head of Connecticut left fielder Austin Wasserman to score Calez. Logan Parker would follow with a ground out that moved Harrison to third and the latter scored when Jack Nelson ripped a double into right center field.
Things took a turn for the worse for UC in the bottom of the fifth as a costly error allowed Connecticut to take the lead for good. Osterbrock walked the first two hitters of the inning and an Untiet bunt pushed both runners up. Larry Day then chopped a grounder to shortstop Adam Yeager that the freshman fielded, but then fumbled and all hands were safe. Yeager redeemed himself on the next play as he fielded a Maler flair over third base, forcing Day at third for the second out. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, Wasserman was able to trot home on the play.
The Huskies used big hits in the seventh and eighth innings to pull ahead for the final 6-2 margin. In the seventh, Donovan drove a deep shot to left that Brian Szarmach made a valiant leaping attempt for against the wall. Donovan ended up on third with a triple as two runners scored ahead of him. In the eighth, Steven Malinowski led off the frame with his first homer of the year.
"It was a tight game today and I thought we swung the bats pretty well against an awful good pitcher," UC head coach Brian Cleary stated. "I thought Osterbrock pitched pretty well with the exception of a couple of walks and Connecticut got some timely hits. We played hard and stayed in the game, but just ran up against a veteran team that found a way to beat us."