TicketsMarch 30, 2009
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THE MATCH-UP
After playing seven of its last eight games on the road, Cincinnati (13-10) plays 14 of its next 19 games at home beginning with mid-week contests against Wright State and Indiana on Tuesday, March 31, and Wednesday, April 1, respectively. First pitch for both games is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Marge Schott Stadium. Wright State (12-14) is coming off a 3-2 week last week, including an 8-5 win over No. 1 Georgia in Athens, Ga. Prior to its game against the Bearcats on Wednesday, Indiana (8-15) hosts Chicago State on Tuesday before heading to Clifton. Last weekend, the Hoosiers split a two-game set with Minnesota that was cut short due to rain.
SCOUTING WRIGHT STATE
· The Raiders enter the week with a 12-14 overall record and a 4-2 Horizon League mark.
· Wright State took two of three games from Butler last weekend and defeated No. 1 Georgia, 8-5, in Athens, Ga., last Tuesday.
· After kicking off their season with a 1-9 record, the Raiders have won 11 of their last 16 games.
· Casey McGrew leads the team with a .357 batting average, 35 hits, 23 runs scored, and is tied for the team lead with 11 doubles.
· Jeff Mercer has driven in a team-best 26 runs, while Quentin Cate has a team-high four home runs.
· As a team, the Raiders own a team ERA of 5.23, with Alex Kaminsky owning a 2.91 ERA, the best among all Wright State starters.
· UC will face off against Tyler Newhart, who owns a 1-0 record and a 4.76 ERA in 17.0 innings of work.
SCOUTING INDIANA
· The Hoosiers enter the week with an 8-15 mark and host Chicago State on Tuesday before heading to Clifton for a match-up with the Bearcats on Wednesday.
· Indiana kicked off Big Ten action last weekend and took one of two games from Minnesota in a shortened series due to rain.
· The Hoosiers were the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten Conference.
· Preseason All-America candidate Josh Phegley leads the Hoosiers with a .407 batting average and has belted six home runs with a team-high 28 RBI.
· Freshman Alex Dickerson has hit a team-best seven home runs in his rookie campaign in Bloomington.
· Eric Arnett has been the ace of the pitching staff this season, owning a 5-1 record, including two complete games.
· Arnett has 45 strikeouts and 12 walks in 44.0 innings of work.
· Indiana has a team ERA of 6.49 compared to 6.19 for its opponents.
PROGRAM FIRST
· For the first time in program history, the UC baseball team will host a nationally televised contest on April 5.
· The series finale between Cincinnati and Louisville on Sunday, April 5, will be televised by ESPNU.
· Last season, the Bearcats and the Cardinals met in the BIG EAST Championship game and U of L went on to defeat UC, 6-3.
· The game on Sunday, April 5, is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
OL' LEFTHANDER
· On April 14-15, the UC baseball team will host the inaugural Joe Nuxhall Classic at Marge Schott Stadium.
· The event is set to honor the legacy of Joe Nuxhall and promote amateur baseball in southwest Ohio.
· The Bearcats welcome Miami University, Wright State University, and Xavier University to compete in this year's tournament.
· Cincinnati, Miami, and Xavier will always participate in the tournament and the fourth team will be decided each season.
· The tournament also will alternate between Marge Schott Stadium and McKie Field at Hayden Park on the Miami University campus.
· On April 14, Miami takes on Wright State at 3 p.m. with the Bearcats and Musketeers meeting in the nightcap.
· The following day, the losers and the winners from the previous day will play each other.
SMITH SPELLS RELIEF
· In his last four outings against Western Michigan, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, and Rutgers, Tyler Smith has been a huge asset for the Bearcats.
· Prior to giving up two runs in the fourth inning at Rutgers on Saturday, March 28, Smith had gone 15.1 consecutive innings without giving up a run.
· In his last 16.1 innings of work, Smith has punched out 19 batters compared to giving up just one free pass.
· Against Western Michigan on Saturday, March 14, Smith came out of the pen and pitched 5.0 innings of relief to earn his first win of the season. In the outing, Smith struck out a season-best nine batters.
· Smith picked up his second win of the season with another 5.0 innings of scoreless relief against Pittsburgh on Sunday, March 22.
· The Bryan, Ohio, native pitched 2.0 innings at Kentucky and struck out two, while giving up one hit in relief.
SUCCESS IN THE MIDDLE
· The Bearcats enter their two mid-week games this week with a 4-1 record in mid-week contests this season.
· In mid-week games, the Bearcats have wins over Miami (OH), Xavier, Dayton, and Kentucky.
· Lance Durham leads the Bearcats with a .550 average in mid-week contests, which includes one home run and eight RBI.
· In mid-week contests, Cincinnati is averaging 9.6 runs per game, and UC owns a team batting average of .291.
BEACH BALL
· Since being inserted in the starting lineup on March 14 against Western Michigan, Beach Brooks has been swinging one of the top bats on the team.
· Brooks, a junior college transfer from Daytona Beach CC, hit over .300 in his two years at the junior college level and combined to hit three home runs during that time frame.
· Brooks got off to a slow start this season hitting .222 in his first 10 games.
· Over the past 11 games, Brooks is hitting .324 and has belted three home runs and driven in five.
· Since March 14, Brooks is tied for the team lead in home runs (3), ranks first on the squad in runs (12) and slugging percentage (.622), and is second in batting average and hits (12).
GEGLEIN CLOSING IN
· With a four-out save at Rutgers on March 27, Jake Geglein moved into a tie for first place on UC's all-time saves list with 15.
· Curtis Moak (1998-01) owned the UC all-time saves record and was a 25th-round selection by the Cincinnati Reds in 2001.
· Geglein has four saves this season, which is tied for second in the BIG EAST.
· Geglein ranked second in the BIG EAST with nine saves in 2008.
· Since giving up two earned runs against Purdue in the season-opener, Geglein has given up two earned runs and struck out 10 while walking one in 9.2 innings of work.
OFF AND RUNNING
· Cincinnati has scored 10-plus runs in nine of 23 games this season.
· Last season, it took UC 45 games to score 10-plus runs nine times.
· UC has scored 165 runs this season in 23 games, averaging out to 7.17 runs per game.
· This season, UC is 8-1 when scoring 10-plus runs, with its lone loss coming in the season-opener vs. Purdue, 11-10.
TOUCH 'EM ALL
· In his first season in the Red and Black in 2008, Mike Spina hit a UC single-season record 21 home runs and drove in a UC single-season record tying 79 RBI.
· Through 23 games this season, Spina is off to a hot start as 10 of his 32 hits have been home runs.
· In the first game vs. Purdue on Feb. 20, Spina hit two home runs to continue where he left off last season and finished the weekend with two home runs and six RBI.
· In the only game played at Davidson on Feb. 27, Spina hit a grand slam in the fifth inning to put UC on top, 9-5, his third home run of the season.
· A first-inning two run home run against Miami (OH) on March 4 gave Spina his fourth home run of the season and the 25th of his career.
· In the series finale against Bradley, Spina went 2-for-4 with two home runs and six RBI, as one of his home runs was a grand slam -- his second of the season.
· In his first two at bats in game two of a doubleheader against Western Michigan on March 14, Spina hit two home runs, one of which was a grand slam, upping his home run total to nine. It was Spina's third grand slam this season.
· Heading into the week, Spina leads the BIG EAST with 10 home runs, and ranks third in RBI (35).
· Only 80 games into his UC career, Spina sits in a tie for sixth place on the UC career home runs chart with 31.
· Spina needs one more home run to move into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time home runs chart.
DURHAM WASTES NO TIME
· Lance Durham, the son of former MLB player Leon Durham, is in his first season with the Red and Black and has not wasted any time making an impact.
· Durham leads the team in batting average (.449) and hits (40).
· Against Bradley on March 6, Durham hit his first career home run, which cleared the scoreboard beyond the right field fence and bounced off of Fifth Third Arena.
· In 23 games, Durham leads the team with 15 multi-hit games.
· Durham ranks second on the squad with 23 RBI and has hit three home runs.
· Against Kentucky on March 25, Durham recorded the first four-RBI game at UC after going 3-for-5 at the dish.
· Over the last six games, Durham is hitting .440 (11-for-25), with five runs scored, and 11 RBI.
· During that stretch, Durham has five multi-hit games and has four multi-RBI games.
SOPHOMORE SURGE
· In his rookie campaign at UC last season, Justin Riddell played in 40 games and made 35 starts for the Bearcats. In those 40 games, Riddell collected two home runs, 15 RBI, and owned a slugging percentage of .360.
· At the BIG EAST/Big Ten Baseball Challenge Feb. 20-22, Riddell was a tough out as he batted .615, going 8-for-13 from the plate.
· In the season-opener vs. Purdue, Riddell went 4-for-4 from the plate and equalled his home run total from 2008 with two home runs in the contest.
· Against Ohio State on Sunday, Feb. 22, Riddell hit his third home run of the season, surpassing his total from 2008.
· At the BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge, Riddell led the tournament in home runs (3), total bases (19), and slugging percentage (1.462), while tying for the tournament lead in batting average (.615).
· Riddell also ranked second among all players in on-base percentage (.643) and hits (8).
· For his efforts, Riddell was named to the BIG EAST/Big Ten Baseball Challenge All-Tournament team presented by CollegeBaseball360.com, and was also one of 12 players nationally selected as Players of the Week by RecruitingCloser.com.
· In the eighth inning vs. Dayton on March 10, Riddell opened up a 7-6 lead in the eighth inning with a three-run home run to give UC a 10-6 lead.
· Of his 31 hits this season, 12 have gone for extra bases. Riddell has seven doubles, one triple, and four home runs. He also ranks in a tied for second on the team with a .348 batting average.
OFF THE BENCH
· In 22 pinch-hit at-bats this season, the Bearcats have delivered 11 hits.
· Freshman Cory Hough is 3-for-5 in pinch-hitting opportunities, while freshman Dorian West, redshirt freshman Zach Collaros, sophomore Justin Riddell, and junior Beach Brooks have all collected hits in pinch-hitting roles.
· In the seventh inning against Miami (OH) on March 4, Hough and Brooks strung together back-to-back two-out pinch-hit base hits to keep the inning alive. Later in the inning, both scored on passed balls to tie the game at eight.
· Freshman T.J. Jones broke open a 4-4 game on March 22 against Pittsburgh with a pinch-hit triple. Jones is 2-for-3 in pinch-hitting roles.
· Trailing 1-0 in the series opener against Rutgers on March 27, Kendal Coleman tied the game with a clutch one-out, pinch-hit single that kickstarted a six-run inning leading to Bearcat victory.
POWER SURGE
· In UC's 9-5 win over Pittsburgh on March 22, the Bearcats hit four home runs.
· It was the second time this season that UC has hit four home runs in a game, with the other occurance coming against Purdue in the season opener on Feb. 20.
· Cincinnati has hit 30 home runs this season and UC has hit two-plus home runs in 11 of its 23 games.
· The Red and Black are 8-3 on the season when hitting two-plus home runs.
BIG EAST PREDICTIONS
· In the 2009 BIG EAST preseason poll, UC was picked to finish fifth by the BIG EAST head coaches.
· Seniors Michael Hill and Cameron Satterwhite were chosen to the all-BIG EAST Preseason Team.
· Louisville was unanimously chosen as the favorite to win the 2009 conference championship. Louisville's Chris Dominguez and Justin Marks took home Preseason Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year honors, respectively.
· USF was picked to finish in second place with 103 votes, followed by Notre Dame (99 votes), St. John's (93 votes), and Cincinnati (77 votes). Filling out spots six through 10 were Connecticut, West Virginia, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Villanova. Pittsburgh and Georgetown were selected 11th, and 12th, respectively.