TicketsMay 16, 2009
Game Notes | Tournament Central
THE MATCH-UP
Down to its last strike against Seton Hall in the regular-season finale, the Bearcats rallied to defeat the Pirates, 6-5, in extra-innings and Cincinnati's season continues when it travels to Clearwater, Fla., to compete in the 2009 BIG EAST Tournament at Bright House Networks Field May 18-23. Cincinnati (29-27; 13-14 BIG EAST) will kick off the tournament on Tuesday, May 19, at 1 p.m. against regular-season champion and the No. 1 overall seed, Louisville (40-14; 19-7 BIG EAST). All of Cincinnati's games at the 2009 BIG EAST baseball tournament can be heard live on GoBEARCATS.com.
SCOUTING LOUISVILLE
· The Cardinals come into the BIG EAST Tournament as the overall No. 1 seed after earning their first BIG EAST regular-season championship with a three-game sweep over USF May 14-15.
· Louisville has an overall record of 40-14 and a BIG EAST mark of 19-7.
· Louisville has one of the most potent offensive attacks in the BIG EAST with six players owning batting averages over .300, led by BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year Chris Dominguez and Phil Wunderlich, who are hitting .365 apiece.
· Dominguez leads the team in home runs, RBI, and stolen bases with 21 home runs, 75 RBI, and 17 stolen bases.
· The Cardinals are averaging 8.4 runs per game compared to just 5.3 runs for their opponents.
· On the hill, Louisville is led by BIG EAST Preseason Pitcher of the Year, Justin Marks, who owns a 9-2 record and a 3.47 ERA. Marks has a BIG EAST-best 106 strikeouts in 85.2 innings of work.
· As a staff, U of L has a team-ERA of 4.23, which is 3.24 runs better than its opponents (7.57 ERA).
BIG EAST TOURNAMENT
· The tournament's opening ceremonies and awards presentations will be Monday, May 18 at 6 p.m. at Bright House Field, followed by the first BIG EAST Home Run Derby at 7 p.m.
· Home Run Derby participants include Mike Spina - Cincinnati (.339, 22 HR, 68 RBI), George Springer - Connecticut (.360, 16 HR, 56 RBI), Chris Dominguez - Louisville (.365, 21 HR, 75 RBI), Evan Sharpley - Notre Dame (.235, 4 HR, 12 RBI), Chris Sedon - Pittsburgh (.404, 20 HR, 58 RBI), Tim Morris - St. John's (.411, 11 HR, 59 RBI), Trey Manz - USF (.306, 6 HR, 24 RBI), Austin Markel - West Virginia (.352, 13 HR, 49 RBI).
· The match-up between Louisville and Cincinnati in the opening round sets the stage for a rematch of last year's title game.
· The Louisville-Cincinnati game will follow Tuesday's opening game between No. 4 seed St. John's and No. 5 seed Notre Dame, which begins at 10 a.m.
· USF enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed as the Bulls will face No. 7 seed Pittsburgh at 8 p.m. Tuesday in a game that will be televised live on the Bright House Sports Network.
· West Virginia went 17-10 in BIG EAST regular-season play to earn the No. 3 seed. The Mountaineers will take on No. 6 seed Connecticut in first-round play.
· The BIG EAST Championship is an eight-team, double-elimination tournament, with the championship game scheduled for Saturday, May 23 at 1 p.m. The winner of the tournament receives the BIG EAST's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. St. John's and Notre Dame have won a conference-best five tournament titles each.
· The May 23 BIG EAST Championship game will be televised live on ESPNU, marking the fourth straight year in which the title game will be carried live on the ESPN family of networks. In addition, every game of the 2009 Championship may be heard on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. The live broadcasts can be heard on XM channel 203 and on Sirius channel 217 for subscribers to the Best of XM package.
· Coverage of the BIG EAST Championship also will be available on the web at www.bigeastbaseball.com. The site will include live streaming video of all games from the first four days of competition along with live statistics and an interactive live blog from the site and live coverage of Monday's opening ceremonies and Home Run Derby.
WALK-OFF WEEKEND
· Needing to win two-of-three games against Seton Hall in the final conference series of the regular-season, Cincinnati used a pair of walk-off's to clinch a spot in the 2009 BIG EAST Tournament.
· This will be Cincinnati's fourth appearance in the conference tournament and marks the first time the Bearcats have made the tournament in back-to-back seasons.
· On Thursday, May 14, with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and the game tied at four, freshman T.J. Jones lifted a shallow fly ball to center field to set up a play at the plate. Sophomore Chris Peters slid past Pirates' catcher Frank Esposito just as the ball skipped off Esposito's glove, giving UC the much-needed Game 1 win.
· With an 8-6 Seton Hall win in Game 2 of the series, it all came down to the regular-season finale as the winner would advance to the conference tournament.
· Cincinnati used a pair of two-run home runs by Peters and junior Lance Durham in the first three innings to take a 4-1 lead.
· The Pirates rallied with three runs in the sixth to tie the game at four, before taking their first lead of the game with one run in the ninth.
· Down to his final strike, senior Cameron Satterwhite blooped a two-out single in between the Seton Hall center fielder, right fielder, and second baseman to score Peters and send the game to extra innings.
· In the bottom of the 10th inning, Jones started a two-out rally with a single through the left side before moving to second base on a single up the middle by Peters. With two on and two out, Durham singled off the first baseman's glove allowing Jones to score from second to send Cincinnati to a 6-5, 10th inning win.
ONWARD WE GO
· With Cincinnati's extra-inning 6-5 win over Seton Hall in its regular-season finale, the Bearcats improved to 4-0 on the season in extra-inning games.
· Going back to 2008, Cincinnati is 7-0 in extra-inning games.
· This season, UC's first extra-inning triumph came against Davidson, where the Bearcats topped the Wildcats 11-10 in 10 innings.
· On April 9, Cincinnati rallied for a 5-4 win over Notre Dame to improve to 2-0 on the season in extra-inning contests.
· On April 25 vs. Villanova, Cincinnati trailed 9-8 in the 10th inning with two outs. Senior Mike Spina delivered a solo home run on a one ball, two strikes count to tie the game at 9-9. During the next at-bat junior Lance Durham homered giving UC the walk-off win and improving the Bearcats to 3-0 in extras.
PATH TO CLEARWATER
· The path to the conference tournament came down to the final weekend with UC, Connecticut, and Pittsburgh all clinching spots in the final weekend.
· Breaking down the conference schedules, below is the ranking of the toughest paths to Clearwater, Fla., based upon opponents winning percentage. (Each team does not play two of the 11 league teams).
Team Conf. Opp. Winning %
1. Notre Dame 0.5393
2. Cincinnati 0.5169
Pittsburgh 0.5169
4. USF 0.4887
5. Louisville 0.4849
West Virginia 0.4849
7. St. John's 0.4831
8. Connecticut 0.4794
RECORD WATCH
· Heading into the conference tournament, UC has several players making a splash on the UC single-season and career record charts.
· With a home run against Seton Hall last weekend, senior Mike Spina broke his own single-season school record with 22 home runs this season. Spina also enters the BIG EAST Tournament with 68 RBI. His 68 RBI ranks fifth on the single-season list. Spina needs 12 RBI to break the UC single-season RBI record.
· Additionally, Spina has 43 career home runs, which ranks third in school history. Spina's 147 career RBI ranks sixth and he also ranks in the career Top 10 in batting average (.358), sacrifice flies (10), slugging percentage (.700), and on-base percentage (.443).
· Senior Cameron Satterwhite is also making a name for himself on the UC career record books. Satterwhite has 52 doubles for his career, which is tied for fifth on the UC career doubles list, and he became the seventh player in Bearcats history to reach 50 career doubles with three doubles at West Virginia May 9-10. The Cincinnati native also ranks seventh on the career home runs chart with 32 and is tied for sixth on the sacrifice flies chart with 10.
· With every save, senior Jake Geglein continues to add to his all-time saves record. Geglein enters the tournament with 20 career saves. Geglein also ranks fifth in career appearances with 84. In the single-season books, Geglein's nine saves this season is tied for second on the single-season charts.
· Junior Lance Durham is terrorizing the UC single-season record books as we approach the start of postseason play. Durham currently ranks first in UC single-season history in batting average with a .431 average. The current UC record holder in batting average is Mark Gabbard, who hit .416 in 1993.
· Durham's game-winning RBI single against Seton Hall in the series finale gave him 97 hits for the season, breaking Kevin Youkilis' single-season hits record of 96 set in 1999. Durham also is tied for third on the single-season on-base percentage list (.508).
"BULL"S-EYE
· Lance "Bull" Durham, the son of former MLB player Leon Durham, is in his first season with the Red and Black and has made an immediate impact on the UC program.
· Durham enters the weekend leading the team and ranking first in BIG EAST with a .431 average. Durham is the league leader in hits (97), and is second in on-base percentage (.508).
· In 56 games, Durham has 34 multi-hit games and he has reached base safely in 53 games.
· Durham ranks second on the squad with 53 RBI and has hit nine home runs.
· On March 31 vs. Wright State, Durham went 3-for-5 from the plate, including a three-run home run, and drove in a career-high five runs.
· On April 29 vs. Xavier, Durham hit his seventh home run of the year, which landed on top of Fifth Third Arena becoming the first player to achieve that feat in a game. It is estimated that Durham hit the home run about 500 feet.
· Durham is UC's single-season hits leader with 97 this season, and his .431 average would be the best single-season mark in school history.
KING OF THE HILL
· For almost one month, senior Jake Geglein was tied atop the University of Cincinnati career saves list with Curtis Moak (1998-01).
· Moak was a 25th-round selection by the Cincinnati Reds in 2001 and he finished his career with 15 career saves.
· On Friday, April 17, Geglein recorded a six-out save against St. John's to preserve an 11-8 win and move past Moak on UC's career saves list with 16.
· Geglein has added to his career saves mark in recent weeks with saves against Villanova, USF, Butler, and Ohio.
· Geglein enters the tournament with nine saves, which is second in the BIG EAST. His four saves in league play ranks first.
· Geglein ranked second in the BIG EAST with nine saves in 2008.
· With his save against Ohio on May 12, Geglein notched the 20th save of his career, becoming the first UC player to reach 20 career saves.
· With the save at USF on Saturday, May 2, Geglein earned his ninth career save in BIG EAST play, which is tied for 10th in the conference record books.
· The BIG EAST career leader in saves is current Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Craig Hansen, who collected 14 saves at St. John's from 2003-05.
SENIOR SWING
· In the opening 25 games of his senior season, Cameron Satterwhite got off to a rough start hitting .193, with 30 strikeouts.
· Over the past 31 games, Satterwhite has come to life and played a vital role in UC's series wins over Notre Dame, St. John's, Villanova, and Seton Hall.
· Since the start of the Louisville series on April 3, Satterwhite is hitting .303 (36-of-119), with 12 doubles, four home runs, and 25 RBI.
· In the second game of a three-game set against Louisville on April 5, Satterwhite went 2-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI.
· In the series opener against Villanova on April 24, Satterwhite hit two home runs, marking his second multi-home run game of the season.
· With UC down to its last strike in the series finale against Seton Hall, Satterwhite hit a RBI bloop single into right-center field that extended the game to extra-innings, before UC won 6-5 in the 10th to advance to the BIG EAST Championships.
· Over his past 31 games, Satterwhite has raised his batting average 63 points -- from .193 to .256.
NO LONGER A FRESHMAN
· Freshman T.J. Jones has been one of the catalysts at the top of the order for UC in the second half of the season.
· After starting the season 1-for-14 (.071), Jones has moved from the bottom of the order to the top of the order.
· In the 40 games since March 20, Jones is second on the team in batting average, hitting .356.
· During that span, Jones leads the team in triples (4) and is third on the team with 32 RBI.
· For the season, Jones is batting .331, which ranks in the Top 10 among freshman batting averages in the conference.
· In league play, Jones is tied for second in the conference in triples (3).
· April 17-19 at St. John's was Jones' first weekend as a lead-off man for UC, and he finished the weekend series with a .450 average, one home run, three RBI, a stolen base, and an on-base percentage of .625.
· As a lead-off hitter this season, Jones is batting .368, with three home runs and 19 RBI, and owns an on-base percentage of .474.
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 56 games this season, 22 of Spina's 75 hits have been home runs.
· Spina is averaging one home run for every 10.04 at-bats.
· 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.
· 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.
· Against Villanova on April 25, the Bearcats were down 8-7 in the bottom of the 10th and Spina was down in the count, one ball, two strikes. Spina delivered a home run on the next pitch that tied the game at eight, and during the next at-bat Lance Durham hit a solo home run giving UC the win.
· Spina leads the BIG EAST with 22 home runs, and is third in RBI (68).
· 113 games into his UC career, Spina ranks third on the UC career home runs chart with 43 and ranks sixth in career RBI with 147.
· Of the top seven players on Cincinnati's all-time home run list, Spina is the only player on that list not to play four years in the Red and Black.