TicketsMay 22, 2008
CLEARWATER, Fla. - The University of Cincinnati Baseball team moved on to Friday's semifinal round of the BIG EAST Conference Baseball Tournament with an 11-1 run-rule victory over the University of South Florida Wednesday night at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla.
Senior center fielder Tony Campana (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) led the offensive fireworks for the Bearcats going 3-for-4, scoring four runs, and driving in four more with his first homerun of the year, a grand slam in the seventh inning. He finished the game a single short of the cycle.
Campana started the night off with a bang in the first inning, taking the first pitch of the game and driving it up the right center field gap for his eighth triple of the year - the second most in one season by a UC player. Campana scored three pitches later on a Jamel Scott (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) groundout.
The Bulls evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning as they scored their only run on a sacrifice fly by Jonathan Koscso.
After two innings of scoreless baseball, the UC bats, which had averaged 10 runs per game over their last 10 games, came alive in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, scoring 10 runs combined.
In the fifth frame, the top of the Cincinnati batting order generated three runs, including a two-run homerun from junior third baseman Mike Spina. The homerun was Spina's team-leading 18th of the season and his fifth in the last six games.
Junior second baseman Josh Harrison (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton) helped the Bearcats expand their lead to 7-1 in the sixth inning when he knocked home a pair of runs with a two-out, two-run triple.
The Bearcats, who looked to add insurance runs in the top of the seventh, got the inning started with a pair of walks to Cameron Satterwhite (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) and Justin Riddell (Lexington, Ky./Lexington Catholic) and a hit batsman. With the bases loaded and one out Campana took a 2-1 offering from USF reliever Dave Torcise and delivered his third career homerun over the right centerfield wall to give the Bearcats a 10-run lead.
From there, junior right hander Michael Hill (Proctorville, Ohio/Fairland) pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for his sixth win and third complete game of the season. Hill (6-3) struck out two and allowed one earned run in seven innings.
With the win, UC earns a third-round bye and will play again Friday in the conference semifinals vs. the winner of tomorrow's USF/WVU game. First pitch Friday will be at 1 p.m.