TicketsMarch 5, 2008
CINCINNATI-Third baseman Mike Spina launched three-run blasts in the second and fourth innings to key the University of Cincinnati's offense in a 10-5 victory over Marshall on Wednesday afternoon. Spina notched a sacrifice fly to open the scoring and singled in the sixth to finish 3-for-4, with seven RBIs to lead Cincinnati to its fourth win of the season.
"Mike was our star today," head coach Brian Cleary said. "He changed the game with one swing of the bat in the second inning and did it again in the fourth. When we have that type of threat in the lineup, we can play a different type of game."
Winners of four of their last five games, the Bearcats (4-4) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. Leadoff batter Tony Campana reached on an infield single before advancing to second and stealing third. The reigning NCAA stolen base champion scored on Spina's fly out to center field to take an early lead, 1-0.
Marshall (2-6) responded in the second inning when Brandon Casamassima led off with a double. With one away, Tommy Johnson doubled to plate Casamassima and even the game, at 1-1.
UC broke the game open with five runs in the bottom half of the second. With the bases loaded and one out, Jamel Scott reached on an error to score Chris Peters from third base. Josh Harrison's sacrifice fly plated Camerron Satterwhite and made it a 3-1 Cincinnati lead. With two men aboard, Spina followed with his first home run of the day to make it a 6-1 Cincinnati advantage.
With two away in the Cincinnati fourth, Scott and Harrison both walked to set up Spina's second homer and make it a 9-1 lead. The speedy Scott notched four stolen bases in the game to up his team lead to 12 steals this season.
Bearcats starting pitcher Brian Garman (1-0) left the game after five and a third innings of work. The lefthander gave up three runs on four hits, while striking out seven to earn his first win of the season.
Cleary commented, "Brian threw the ball well today. He competed and made pitches when he needed to. He gives us some depth and hopefully we can look at him as someone we can add to the starting corps."
Thundering Herd starter Ryan Kiel (0-1) left the contest in the second inning after giving up five runs on two hits. Kiel yielded five base on balls and struck out one en route to his first loss of the year. The Herd utilized six relievers for the remainder of the game.
Marshall cut into the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth inning. The bases were loaded with one out when Billy Welsh replaced Garman. Johnson's fly out brought home a run and Ben Jurevicius followed with an RBI single to make it a 9-3 game.
Lipton started the eighth inning by reaching base via an error. He would score later on Johnson's second hit of the afternoon.
In the UC eighth, Campana reached base on an error and stole second base. After stealing third, a throwing error allowed him to cruise home and make it a 10-4 lead.
Marshall cut the lead in half with a run in the ninth to set the final count, at 10-5.
Cincinnati returns to action this weekend with a three-game series at Marge Schott Stadium against Cleveland State. Marshall returns home to entertain Marist this weekend in a three-game series.
--GoBEARCATS.com--