TicketsApril 7, 2007
CINCINNATI, Ohio---It was a day of missed opportunities for Cincinnati as the Bearcats left 17 men on base in a 9-5 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon at Marge Schott Stadium. Despite the defeat, Cincinnati won the series after wins on Friday and Saturday nights and stands at 17-14 overall and 4-5 in the BIG EAST.
In the setback, the Bearcats left at least one man on in every inning, while leaving the bases loaded twice. A five-run third inning outburst by Notre Dame (14-16, 2-6 BIG EAST) pushed the visitors in front for good.
Cincinnati finished the day with 10 hits, including two each by Tony Campana and Michael Obyc. The latter added a pair of walks to the offensive cause. Notre Dame got four hits from Jeremy Barnes and two each by A.J. Pollock and Matt Weglarz.
The hero of the day for the Irish was junior pitcher Joey Williamson who turned in four sparkling innings of relief to earn the win. During the outing, Williamson allowed Cincinnati just one unearned run and three hits. Jess Stewart escaped a two on, none out jam in the eighth and finished the game to preserve his first save of the year.
Notre Dame took advantage of some shaky Cincinnati defense in the second to jump to a 2-0 lead. A single by Danny Dressman and a Barnes double started the inning, but UC missed a chance to avoid serious damages by committing a pair of errors that led to the two runs.
The Bearcats would bounce back in the bottom of the inning taking their only lead of the day with three runs. Jamel Scott got the hosts on the board with an RBI infield single that scored Adam Yeager. A hard charging Obyc made it all the way to third and he scored the second run of the inning on a Kyle Weiland wild pitch. Brian Szarmach then put UC in front when he clubbed a double off the wall in right center field.
The Irish would proceed with their five-run outburst in the third, getting the first run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Dressman. The run was able to score despite a sensational diving catch by Campana. Barnes and Dury kept it going with an RBI single and double, respectively that made it 5-3. A Ryan Smith sac fly scored another and Notre Dame completed its scoring for the inning on a Michael Wright RBI single.
UC cut into its 7-3 deficit in fourth on a sacrifice fly by Josh Harrison. Notre Dame went back up four one-half inning later as Smith lined an RBI single off the glove of a diving Harrison. Cincinnati scored again in its half of the fifth, taking advantage of two Notre Dame errors and a passed ball. The Irish wrapped up the day's scoring with a seventh inning Ross Brezovsky sacrifice fly.
The Bearcats, now tied for sixth in the BIG EAST standings, have a busy week that features five contests. UC will host non-conference games against Marshall (Monday) and Xavier (Wednesday) before traveling to West Virginia next weekend.