TicketsMay 11, 2007
NEW YORK -- The University of Cincinnati baseball team found itself in New York state of mind, but it came with a 10-0 loss to No. 30 St. John's on Friday night at Jack Kaiser Stadium.
Cincinnati (26-24, 8-13 BIG EAST) dug a hole for itself early when a routine ground ball allowed St. John's Chris Joachim to reach base with one out in the bottom of the first. Following a single and a hit batter, the bases were loaded for Anthony Smith's run-scoring single. An excellent relay from left fielder Michael Obyc to shortstop Adam Yeager allowed catcher Ryan Baker to apply the tag on DeLuca before he crossed the plate.
UC starting pitcher Steve Blevins (2-5) found himself in trouble in the second inning after allowing a one-out triple to Ryan Mahoney. After inducing a pop up, Brian Kemp notched an RBI single to make it a 2-0 game.
Blevins came away with the loss, allowing seven runs, albeit three were earned, on nine hits. The sophomore right-hander struck out five and walked two in five innings on the mound.
St. John's (35-13, 17-5 BIG EAST) broke the game open with five runs in the fourth inning. A throwing error on Anthony Smith's leadoff bunt attempt started the frame. Smith advanced to second base on the throw and moved to third on Brendan Monaghan's single through the right side. After a walk loaded the bases, Jeff Grantham's single scored two runs to stretch the lead to 4-0. After a fielder's choice put runners on the corners, Joachim singled to center field to score Ryan Mahoney. Brian Kemp scored later in the inning on the first of two wild pitches by Blevins in the inning to extend the margin to 7-0.
The Bearcats registered their first hit of the night in the second inning on Michael Obyc's double. Obyc moved to third on a ground out for the second out of the inning, but UC was unable to generate anymore offense.
Josh Harrison opened the top of the fourth inning with a bloop single to right field. The speedy infielder tried to stretch the safety to a double, but was gunned down to stop the promising start.
In the St. John's sixth, DeLuca singled with one away and moved to second after relief pitcher Evan Sanford's wild pitch. Gil Zayas doubled down the left field line to score DeLuca and push the lead to 8-0.
St. John's left-hander Scott Barnes (5-2) retired the next eight batters he faced before Harrison singled again to start the seventh. Neall French followed with a single of his own. With two on and no one out, Barnes quickly struck out the side to finish the night with 10 strikeouts in seven innings of work.
St. John's added two more runs off of reliever Robb Thompson in the seventh inning. After back-to-back one-out base hits, Gino Matias knocked a single to score both runners and set the final margin at 10-0.
Cincinnati ended the night with five safeties, while St. John's tallied 15 hits.
Cincinnati and St. John's meet for the second game of their BIG EAST series on Saturday at 1 p.m.