TicketsApril 23, 2010
The University of Cincinnati baseball team continues its five-game road swing this weekend when it travels to Notre Dame, Ind., to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a three-game BIG EAST Conference series beginning on Friday, April 23, at 6 p.m. The Irish and the Bearcats currently are sitting in seventh place and eighth place in the league, respectively, entering this weekend's set of games. Saturday's game time has been moved to 3:30 p.m. from an original 1 p.m. start time, while Sunday's series finale will be contested at 1 p.m. Notre Dame leads the all-time series, 17-14 over UC, but Cincinnati has won six of the last nine meetings.
ABOUT NOTRE DAME
· The Irish enter the weekend with a 15-21 overall record and a 5-7 BIG EAST mark.
· The Irish started 2-7 in conference play but went to Seton Hall and swept the Pirates last weekend to move into seventh place in the conference standings at 5-7.
· As a team, Notre Dame is hitting .282, led by David Mills, who is hitting .366. Mills has one home run, 23 RBI, and has stolen a team-best eight bags.
· In addition to Mills, Casey Martin (.361), Ryan Connolly (.339), and Frank Desico (.321) are the other Irish players hitting over .300.
· Connolly leads the squad in home runs (6), RBI (25), and runs scored (28).
· On the mound, ND has a team ERA of 5.74 and has struck out 226 batters as a staff, while giving up just 133 walks.
· Brian Dupra is Notre Dame's top starter with a 4.82 ERA in 52.1 innings pitched and he has struck out 37 compared to 13 walks.
THE BREAKDOWN IN CONFERENCE
· Cincinnati has struggled in conference play as it owns a record of 4-8.
· While Cincinnati owns a team ERA of 2.88 in league play, which ranks second in the conference, UC has committed 23 errors in 12 conference contests.
· Those 23 errors have led to 23 unearned runs for opponents.
· UC has given up 34 earned runs compared to 33 for its opponents, but the Bearcats have also given up 23 unearned runs compared to three unearned runs for its opponents.
JOE NUXHALL CLASSIC
· In the inaugural Joe Nuxhall Classic in 2009, the Bearcats fell to Wright State and Miami (OH) in its two games in the tournament that honors the Ol' Lefthander.
· UC opened with Wright State in the 2010 Joe Nuxhall Classic at McKie Field at Hayden Park on the campus of Miami University and trailed 5-4 entering the ninth inning.
· In the ninth, senior Jimmy Jacquot belted a one out, solo home run to left field to tie the game up, before senior Kevin Johnson followed Jacquot with a single. Senior Brian Garman pinch ran for Johnson, stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher, and then scored on a wild pitch to give UC the 6-5 come-from-behind win.
· In the championship game against Miami (OH), UC led from the get-go and senior Andrew Burkett nailed down his seventh save of the season to preserve the 3-2 win.
· UC captured its first Joe Nuxhall Classic title and improved to 2-2 all-time in the tournament.
· Junior Chris Peters was named tournament Most Valuable Player after going 4-for-9 (.444), with two RBI, and three stolen bases in the two-day event.
CLEARY HITS 350
· In his 14th season at Cincinnati, head coach Brian Cleary became just the second coach in program history to reach 350 wins for his career when UC defeated Seton Hall on Friday, April 9.
· With the three wins last week, including two at the Joe Nuxhall Classic, Cleary has a career record of 353-420-1 at UC.
· Cleary's joins legendary coach Glenn Sample as the only two baseball coaches in UC history to accumulate 350 wins.
· Sample coached the Bearcats from 1961-1981 and led UC to four of the program's five NCAA Tournament berths and two Missouri Valley Conference championships.
· Sample finished his career as UC baseball's all-time winningest coach with 391 wins.
THE DECIDING NUMBER
· Despite its offensive struggles this season, the Bearcats have scored six or more runs in 12 of its 35 games.
· UC is a perfect 12-0 on the season when scoring six or more runs in a game.
· Last season, Cincinnati was 24-9 when scoring more than six runs in a game.
· On the other end of the scale, the Bearcats are just 6-17 when scoring five runs or less.
IN THE MIDDLE
· On the season, Cincinnati has a slow starting team offensively as it has only scored in the first inning in nine of 35 games.
· In innings 1-3, UC has been outscored 66-44 by its opponents.
· However, in the middle innings (innings 4-7), the Bearcats have responded by outscoring its opponents 70-56.
· Typically, Cincinnati has done the most damage in the sixth and the eighth innings this season, outscoring its opponents by a combined 19 runs during those two frames.
COLEMAN STEPPING UP
· Sophomore Kendal Coleman saw his first action of the season against Dayton on Wednesday, March 24.
· Coleman was a solid reserve for UC in 2009, making 34 appearances, including 21 starts. He hit .256 with 12 RBI on the season.
· In Coleman's season-debut against Dayton, he was the designated hitter and went 2-for-3 against the Flyers.
· In his 15 starts this season, Coleman is 18-for-54 (.333) and has an on-base percentage of .410, which is tops on the team.
· The Hillsboro, Ohio, native is UC's top hitter in conference play, hitting .342, with 13 hits in 38 at-bats.
EXTRA-INNINGS
· Last season, Cincinnati was 4-0 in extra-inning contests.
· In 2010 in extra-inning games, UC is 0-3.
· The Bearcats lost to Penn State, 5-4, in 12 innings at the Big Ten/BIG EAST Baseball Challenge on Feb. 26, after UC led 4-3 entering the ninth inning.
· UC also dropped an extra-inning contest to Seton Hall, 4-3, on April 11, in addition to losing to Ohio University, 2-1, on April 20.
· The Bearcats have been outscored 5-1 in extra-innings this season.
LEADING THE CHARGE
· All season long, senior Jimmy Jacquot has ranked among the team leaders in batting average, home runs, and RBI.
· Jacquot currently ranks fifth on the team with a .278 batting average, while leading the team with six home runs and 28 RBI.
· Prior to the March 30 game against No. 30 Kentucky, Jacquot was ranked second on the team with a .347 average.
· However, over a four-game stretch, from March 30 to April 3, Jacquot went 0-for-14 at the plate.
· The senior busted out of his slump on Wednesday, April 7, against Morehead State finishing 2-for-3, with a home run and two RBI. Last week, the senior hit .313 with two home runs and seven RBI.
· The Swansea, Ill., came through in a big way against Wright State on April 13 against Wright State, when he hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at five. UC came back later in the winning and won the game, 6-5.
· Jacquot has not only impressed offensively, but he has been an asset behind the plate.
· Entering the weekend, runners have attempted to steal 46 times on Jacquot and he has thrown out 19 runners. The 19 runners caught stealing by Jacquot leads the BIG EAST.
EXPERIENCE IN THE PEN
· Senior Brian Garman, junior Brian Sand, and senior Andrew Burkett have been spectacular out of the bullpen for Cincinnati this season.
· Garman has posted a 1.14 ERA in 11 appearances out of the bullpen and one start, and has struck out 41 batters, while walking 10 in 31.2 innings.
· Sand owns an ERA of 2.29 and has struck out 25 and given up six walks in 35.1 innings of work.
· Garman got the start against Villanova on March 28, and in the first four innings had at least one runner on second base with less than two outs. In each situation, Garman got out of the inning without giving up a run.
· In Garman's last seven games, he has completed 20.0 innings, given up 16 hits, one earned run, struck out 26 and walked four.
· In relief, Sand shut down Ohio State on Feb. 28 and did not surrender a hit in 5.0 innings of work to pick up his first win of the season.
· Sand has pitched at least two innings in eight of his 14 relief appearances and on the season has struck out 25, while giving up six walks, three of which were intentional walks.
· Burkett has posted eight saves for Cincinnati this season and has struck out 18 in 13.2 innings en route to a 3.29 ERA.
· Burkett is in sixth on UC's single-season saves list with eight saves and ranked ninth nationally entering the week.
NEW YEAR, NEW RESULTS
· The Cincinnati pitching staff has 10 returners from last year's staff, giving the Bearcats an experienced group of hurlers.
· Last season, the UC pitching staff struggled with an ERA of 6.56, which ranked last in the BIG EAST.
· Through 35 games this season, the Bearcats pitching staff has been much improved as Cincinnati has an ERA of 3.60.
· Two of UC's starters, senior Tyler Smith and junior Dan Jensen have ERA's of 3.38 and 3.60, respectively.
· Senior Brian Garman and junior Brian Sand have both pitched 30-plus innings in relief this season and own ERA's of 1.14 and 2.29, respectively.
· Seven of UC's pitchers who have completed at least 10.0 innings of action this season have ERA's below 4.00.
· Entering the week, UC ranked 16th nationally in earned run average (3.73).
FEB. 26-28 BIG TEN/BIG EAST BASEBALL CHALLENGE
· In the inaugural BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge in 2009, Cincinnati went 0-3, which included an 11-10 loss to Purdue and a 6-5 loss to Ohio State.
· The Bearcats responded in the 2010 edition of the Big Ten/BIG EAST Baseball Challenge with a 2-1 record.
· Cincinnati lost a heartbreaker in its first game of the challenge to Penn State when the Nittany Lions rallied for two runs in the ninth to tie the game, before winning in the 12th inning.
· In game two, UC trailed 6-0 to Purdue heading into the ninth inning, before the Bearcats rallied for seven runs in the ninth inning to defeat the Boilermakers, 7-6.
· In the finale of the event, Cincinnati jumped in front early and never looked back as it defeated No. 13 Ohio State, 12-4.
· The win over the Buckeyes was the highest-ranked opponent the Bearcats have beaten since beating No. 11 Tulane, 12-4, on April 4, 2004.
INJURY UPDATE
· Cincinnati has been without the services of two of its freshmen for most of the season.
· Freshman pitcher Chris McElroy will be out for the remainder of the 2010 season with an elbow injury.
· Fellow freshman Jake Proctor was hit by a pitch on the hand on Saturday, Feb. 27, and missed nine games with a broken hand. Proctor made his return to the lineup on March 19 against Toledo.