TicketsApril 28, 2009
CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati baseball team trailed by as many as four runs and battled all the way back to take a 9-8 lead, but a two-run Jordan Conley bloop single in the bottom of the eighth put Xavier University ahead for good as the Musketeers ended the Bearcats five-game winning streak with a 10-9 win at Hayden Field Tuesday afternoon.
Junior Jimmy Jacquot (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East) went 3-for-4 from the plate to pace UC, including a home run, and finished with two runs scored and two RBI.
Xavier scored four times in the first two innings to take a 4-0 lead, before Cincinnati struck in the third. Jacquot led off the inning with a single to left field, but consecutive strike outs left Jacquot at first with two outs. Senior Mike Spina (Newberry, Fla./Newberry) put the Bearcats on the board with a two-run home run to left field, cutting the UC deficit in half, 4-2. The home run was Spina's 15th of the season.
A scoreless fourth inning ensued before UC inched closer in the fifth. Sophomore Chris Peters (Tipp City, Ohio/Tipp City) was walked to start the inning, and moved to second base on a single by Jacquot. Freshman T.J. Jones (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) loaded the bases with a walk, but only one run would score as a double play and a strikeout ended the threat, leaving the score at 4-3.
With the score at 5-4 in Xavier's favor, the Musketeers opened a four-run lead in the bottom of the sixth scoring three runs on three hits to take an 8-4 cushion.
Just as the Musketeers matched its largest lead of the game, Cincinnati struck back with two runs in the seventh inning and three runs in the eighth inning to take its first lead of the game, 9-8. In the seventh, Junior Lance Durham (Forest Park, Ohio/Roger Bacon) brought home a run on a double to center field, before scoring on a triple to right-center field by sophomore Justin Riddell (Lexington, Ky./Lexington Catholic). In the eighth, Peters led off the inning with a walk, before Jacquot jumped on a zero balls, two strikes fastball and deposited it over the right field fence, tying the game at eight. Later in the inning, freshman Cory Hough (Lebanon, Ohio/Springboro) drew a bases loaded RBI walk to push the Bearcats in front, 9-8, but three were stranded as a strikeout ended the frame.
Xavier bounced back in the eighth when Conley hit a two-RBI single that barely cleared the first baseman's glove, catapulting the Musketeers ahead, 10-9.
Conley moved to the pitcher's mound in the ninth and retired the side to preserve to 10-9 win.
Xavier and Cincinnati meet again on Wednesday, April 29, at 6:30 p.m. at Marge Schott Stadium. Wednesday marks Glenn Sample Night as UC will honor its all-time winningest coach who passed away on Nov. 21, 2008.