TicketsApril 25, 2008
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati baseball team travels to the Derby City to face Louisville in a key BIG EAST test at Patterson Stadium. At the halfway mark of the BIG EAST race, UC is currently tied for second place in the standings. Cincinnati is off to its best start in three years of league competition and already boasts one more victory than it recorded during the 2007 BIG EAST slate. Reigning BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week Dan Osterbrock has won four consecutive BIG EAST decisions. The junior lefthander carries his 5-2 record and 2.79 ERA into Friday's series opener.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Louisville lists five players hitting .300 or better in the lineup. Led by Chris Dominguez, who is hitting .383, with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs, the Cardinals are second in the BIG EAST Conference with their team batting average of .311. Justin McClanahan is batting .376, with 24 extra-base hits, highlighted by 16 doubles. Jeff Arnold is 8-for-8 on stolen base attempts and is hitting at a .342 clip. The pitching staff owns a 4.59 earned run average. No. 2 in the rotation, Justin Marks boasts a 2.15 ERA to go with his 4-1 record this season.
NOTING THE BEARCATS: Cincinnati is firmly positioned in second place in the BIG EAST Conference race, at 11-4 and is coming off its busiest stretch of the season, a six-games in six days span in which it posted a 4-2 record. Cameron Satterwhite is tops on the team with his .359 batting average and 16 doubles. Fellow junior Mike Spina continues to shine with a .357 average that includes a team-high nine home runs. Senior center fielder Tony Campana is hitting .324, and leads the squad with five triples and 28 steals. Campana and Jamel Scott are ranked No. 1 and 2 in the BIG EAST with 28 and 25 stolen bases respectively. As a team, the Bearcats are hitting .295 with 33 home runs, 61 doubles and 10 triples. Cincinnati's three weekend starting pitchers have amassed 127 strikeouts and only 34 free passes in 152 innings of work. Dan Osterbrock is 5-2 with a 2.79 ERA, while Michael Hill owns a 3-2 record and a 3.12 ERA. Tyler Smith is 3-3, with a 3.60 earned run average, to go with 46 punch outs.
SATTERWHITE SEEING THE BALL ALRIGHT: Over the last 21 games, no one is hitting better for the Bearcats than Cameron Satterwhite. Leading the team with his .422 average over the span, Satterwhite is hitting (35-of-83) since March 26.
HARRISON ENJOYS RED-HOT WEEK: Josh Harrison raised his season average 30 points, from .274 to .304 by batting a torrid 11-of-24 in five games last week. In both of last week's non-league tilts against Kentucky and Butler, Harrison tallied three hits each. He notched five hits in 15 at bats against Georgetown last weekend, including a pair of doubles. The junior is second on the team with 16 multiple-game hits, including five three-hit performances.
SPINA CONTINUES TO RACK UP BIG EAST HONORS: For the third time this season, third baseman Mike Spina was recognized by the BIG EAST Conference for his performance at the plate. The Bearcats' starter at the hot corner for all but two games thus far, earned BIG EAST Honor Roll acclaim after hitting .500 (9-of-18) in five games last week.
SPINA HITS HIS STRIDE IN APRIL: After seeing his average dip to .266, Mike Spina is hitting .528 since going 2-for-4, with three RBIs, including a two-run homer in the series finale on April 6, at Connecticut. The Bearcats' third baseman has seven home runs over the last 14 games and owns a .981 slugging percentage and .571 on-base percentage over the stretch.
OFF AND RUNNING: The Bearcats' running game was one of the nation's best last year and is listed 11th nationally this week. The Bearcats have reached safely on 2.19 stolen bases per game and have made good on 82-of-107 stolen base attempts (.766) this season. The Bearcats swiped 130 bases in 2007, ranking as the highest total ever by a UC team. As a team, UC ranked fourth last season with 2.32 steals per game.
LEAD-OFF TERROR: Tony Campana continues to be a big impact at the top of the Bearcats' lineup, while patrolling center field in every game since transferring to Cincinnati. A spark plug at the top of the order, Campana is hitting .324 and is 28-of-36 in stolen base attempts.
RECORD SETTING THIEF: An offensive catalyst at the top of the lineup, Tony Campana set a Cincinnati single-season record with 60 stolen bases as a junior. Campana finished as the NCAA leader in steals at better than one stolen base per game. In his first year with the Bearcats, he came up one stolen base short of equaling the program's career record of 61. Already this season Campana eclipsed the mark for career stolen bases and his 28 thefts this season give him 88 career steals and counting.
STAFF ACE: In 2007, Dan Osterbrock was one of the BIG EAST's best hurlers posting a 9-1 record. Owning a 5-2 record and a 2.79 ERA, the Cincinnati native opened the season by striking out eight in six innings of work at Miami (FL). The lefty has show masterful control, striking out 43 this year against only seven walks in 58 innings.
OSTERBROCK LIKES TO FINISH WHAT HE STARTED: Lefthander Dan Osterbrock has made a habit of finishing BIG EAST Conference games, with two complete games in his last four outings. Although he did not record a strikeout, the Cincinnati native pitched a complete game, allowing three runs on six hits in a 5-3 win at Notre Dame. Two weeks later, the lefty did it again, striking out eight over nine innings to garner a 6-3 victory against Pittsburgh. Osterbrock tossed five complete games a year ago and currently boasts eight career complete games. He left the Georgetown game after nine punchouts over eight innings with a commanding 7-1 lead.
SPEEDY SCOTT: After hitting the Bearcats' first home run of 2008 at Miami (FL), Jamel Scott has shown plenty speed. UC's swift sophomore is sharing the top spot in the BIG EAST Conference in stolen bases, having made good on 25-of-31 attempts this season. Scott started the campaign with a string of 14 consecutive steals before being caught. The Bearcats' No. 2 hitter, Scott boasts a .291 average and a .370 on-base percentage.