TicketsApril 7, 2010
CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati baseball team trailed by as many as five runs, but a two-run, eighth inning home run by sophomore T.J. Jones gave Cincinnati its first lead of the game and three more eighth-inning runs completed the 9-7 come-from-behind win over Morehead State University Wednesday evening at Marge Schott Stadium.
Senior Kevin Johnson, who started the game as the designated hitter, moved to the pitching mound from his DH spot in the fifth inning and gave up just one hit and one earned run en route to picking up his first win of the season. Johnson also went 1-for-3 at the plate.
The win snapped a two-game home losing streak for UC and moved its record to 14-12 overall, while Morehead State fell to 17-15 overall.
Both teams failed to score in the first inning, but the Eagles used four hits, including three doubles, in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead.
Following a scoreless third and fourth inning, the Eagles extended their lead to 5-0 courtesy of a single and a Cincinnati error, but UC struck for the first time in the bottom of the fifth.
Johnson led off the fifth inning with a single to right field before senior Jimmy Jacquot deposited a zero balls, one strike off-speed pitch over the left field wall, making the score 5-2. The home run was Jacquot's fourth of the season. Later in the inning, junior Nick Rohlfs singled through the left side to reach first base and later scored on a single to left-center field by junior Mikel Huston, further closing the gap to 5-3.
Still trailing by a score of 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Huston started the late-inning rally with a single to center field. During the next at-bat, the Morehead State shortstop mishandled a ground ball off the bat of junior Chris Peters, allowing Huston to score all the way from first and moving UC within one run, 5-4. Two pitches later, Jones drilled an opposite field, two-run home run, his second of the season, giving the Bearcats their first lead of the game, 6-5.
Later in the eighth, freshman Jake Proctor collected a RBI fielder's choice, Rohlfs executed a RBI squeeze play, and senior Jamel Scott pushed a RBI single into center field to close out a six-run inning that widened the lead to 9-5.
The Eagles' Luke Bainer connected on a two-run home run to right-center field in the ninth inning that cut the MSU deficit in half at 9-7, but senior Andrew Burkett retired to the next two batters to give UC the win.
Huston led Cincinnati with three hits, while Jones and Jacquot tacked on two RBI apiece. Proctor's RBI fielder's choice in the eighth inning was the first RBI of his career.
The Bearcats hit the road for a three-game BIG EAST set at Seton Hall April 9-11. Cincinnati and Seton Hall kick off the series on Friday, April 9, at 6 p.m.