TicketsMay 17, 2008
CINCINNATI---Cincinnati closed its regular season in style scoring seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to finish off a series sweep of West Virginia, 14-9, on Saturday afternoon at Marge Schott Stadium. The victory clinches a school record for wins in a season for the Bearcats who are 36-19 heading into next week's BIG EAST Championship. UC will enter the tournament no lower than the No. 2 seed pending the outcome of the second game of the St. John's-Villanova doubleheade
The game went back and forth until the decisive sixth inning that saw the Bearcats (36-19, 19-8 BIG EAST) send 12 men to the plate, with nine straight reaching base safely. Jamel Scott's two-run single put the Bearcats in front to stay and made a winner out of senior reliever Adam Calez (4-2). On Senior Day, Calez, pitching for the second day in a row, pitched 1.1 scoreless innings of relief to secure the victory.
Tony Campana also had a Senior Day to remember, going 4-for-4, missing the cycle by only a home run, scoring three runs and driving in three. Fellow senior Ryan Baker added three hits, as did freshman Justin Riddell. Six players in the UC line-up tallied multiple hits as the Bearcats finished with 19.
Joe Agreste led West Virginia (34-19, 13-14 BIG EAST) with three hits, while Jedd Gyorko had a pair, including a home run. Reliever Eric Saffell was charge with seven runs in just one-third of the inning to take the defeat.
For the first time all series, West Virginia got on the board first as Justin Parks scampered home on a Tyler Smith wild pitch in the first. The Mountaineers played add-on an inning later, taking advantage of a Scott error for their second run. Cincinnati got one of the runs back in the second when Campana beat out an infield single with two outs that scored Ryan Baker.
Both teams put up a pair of runs in the third with Brent Lockhart and Grant Buckner each tallying RBI singles for WVU. UC got its two when Cameron Satterwhite went big fly for the 13th time this year with a man aboard. One inning later, WVU went up 5-3 when Gyorko homered, but UC came back to tie it on a Campana RBI triple and an RBI groundout by Scott. West Virginia was feeling good heading into the bottom of the sixth with a 7-5 lead after an RBI double by Tobias Streich and a run-scoring single by Jordan Yost. The lead could have been 8-5, but Scott gunned down Streich at the plate on Yost's single to left.
Things all fell apart for West Virginia in the sixth as the Bearcat offense exploded, scoring seven runs all with one out. With two men on, Campana got the scoring started by pulling a double down the right field line that scored Riddell. Scott then plated a pair with a single to center that put UC in front to stay. Three batters later, Satterwhite notched a two-run single of his own and Baker and Kevin Johnson followed with consecutive RBI singles to round out the scoring. UC padded its lead with two more in the seventh on Scott's second RBI groundout of the day and a wild pitch.
West Virginia finished the day's scoring with single runs in the eighth (Streich RBI single) and ninth innings (Vince Belnome RBI single) against Jake Geglein.
UC will now await its BIG EAST Championship seeding, which will be no lower than No. 2. Action from the Championship starts Tuesday at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla.