TicketsMay 6, 2010
The University of Cincinnati baseball team begins a crucial six-game conference stretch this weekend when Cincinnati travels to Storrs, Conn., to take on the BIG EAST Conference leader, No. 16 Connecticut. The series against Connecticut marks the first of two straight series where the Bearcats take on a nationally-ranked opponent as Connecticut enters the week ranked 16th in the Collegiate Baseball weekly poll and next week's opponent Pittsburgh sits 20th in the same poll. The series begins with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 8, beginning at Noon, while Game 2 of the doubleheader will begin 30 minutes following the completion of Game 1. Sunday's series finale will also begin at Noon.
ABOUT CONNECTICUT
· The Huskies enter the week ranked No. 16 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and own a 35-9 overall record and a 14-3 BIG EAST Conference mark.
· The 14-3 league marks puts Connecticut a half-game in front of No. 9 Louisville in the race for the conference title with three weeks to play.
· Connecticut is just one of two teams in the conference to rank in the Top 4 in the conference in hitting and ERA, with a team batting average of .315 (4th), and an ERA of 3.85 (3rd).
· Matt Nemeth leads the squad with a .409 batting average and has driven in a team-best 56 runs.
· The Huskies have seven other players that are hitting above .300 on the campaign.
· On the mound, the UConn hurlers own the third-best ERA in the BIG EAST at 3.85.
· Elliot Glynn is Connecticut's top starter with a 2.24 ERA in 10 starts. He has struck out 33 and walked 22 in 64.1 innings of work.
· UConn also has been a terror on the base paths this season with a BIG EAST-leading 126 stolen bases. The 126 stolen bases rank third nationally.
THE MATCH-UP
· UConn's .315 batting average entering the week ranked fourth in the BIG EAST Conference, and they will be facing off against a UC pitching staff that owns the top ERA in the conference at 3.77.
· On the other end, Connecticut's pitching staff ranks third in the BIG EAST with a 3.85 ERA, while UC's team average of .250 is 11th.
· Connecticut ranks third in the country in stolen bases with 126. They will go against UC senior Jimmy Jacquot, who has thrown out 19 runners, ranking second in the BIG EAST.
· The Huskies lead the league in walks with 205, while the Bearcats are tied for third in walks allowed with 128.
THE DECIDING NUMBER
· Despite its offensive struggles this season, the Bearcats have scored five or more runs in 20 of its 45 games.
· UC is a perfect 20-0 on the season when scoring five or more runs in a game.
· Last season, Cincinnati was 26-11 when scoring more than five runs in a game.
· On the other end of the scale, the Bearcats are just 4-21 when scoring less than five runs.
RIDDELL CONTINUES HOT STREAK
· Prior to the opening game of the Notre Dame series on April 23, junior Justin Riddell was hitting .235 (19-of-81) in 30 games.
· Over the past 10 games, however, Riddell has been Cincinnati's top hitter.
· The Lexington, Ky., native is hitting .439 (18-of-41) over the past 10 contests, with two home runs and eight RBI.
· Riddell has posted seven multi-hit games in his past 10 contests to lead the team.
· The last two conference weekends, Riddell has been even more impressive. Against Notre Dame, Riddell went 8-for-12 (.750) and drove in two runs, and stole a base.
· Riddell then followed that weekend up by hitting .417 (5-of-12) and drove in two RBI.
· Prior to the series, Riddell was hitting .067 (1-for-15) in conference play and last weekend upped his conference average to .333 (9-for-27).
IN THE MIDDLE
· On the season, Cincinnati has a slow starting team offensively as it has only scored in the first inning in 13 of 45 games.
· In innings 1-3, UC has been outscored 91-57 by its opponents.
· However, in the middle innings (innings 4-6), the Bearcats have responded by outscoring its opponents 101-64. The 101 runs during that stretch accounts for 43.5 percent of UC's run total this season.
· On May 5, Cincinnati scored 10 runs in the fifth inning to take a 13-5 lead. The 10 runs was the most runs scored in an inning since scoring 10 runs in the eighth inning against Mount St. Joseph's in a 20-3 win on May 6, 2008.
EXTRA-INNINGS
· Last season, Cincinnati was 4-0 in extra-inning contests.
· The Bearcats have struggled in 2010 in extra-inning games as UC is 0-3 in extra innings.
· 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 4-1 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 .285 batting average, while leading the team with 11 home runs and 40 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.
· 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 continued his late-game heroics against West Virginia on May 1, when he hit the go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to lead UC to the come-from-behind win.
· Over the last seven games, Jacquot is hitting .333 (9-of-27) with five home runs and 10 RBI.
· Jacquot has not only impressed offensively, but he has been an asset behind the plate.
· Entering the weekend, runners have attempted to steal 52 times on Jacquot and he has thrown out 19 runners. The 19 runners caught stealing by Jacquot ranks second in the BIG EAST.
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 25 starts this season, Coleman is 26-for-87 (.299) and has an on-base percentage of .408.
· The Hillsboro, Ohio, native is UC's third-leading hitter in conference play, hitting .286, with 16 hits in 56 at-bats.
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 1.51 ERA in 13 appearances out of the bullpen and three starts, and has struck out 53 batters, while walking 11 in 47.2 innings.
· Sand owns an ERA of 2.81 and has struck out 26 and given up seven walks in 41.2 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 his third start of the season vs. West Virginia on April 30, Garman gave up seven hits and one earned run while striking out nine in a complete game win, the first complete game of his career.
· 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 10 of his 17 relief appearances and on the season has struck out 26, while giving up seven walks, three of which were intentional walks.
· Burkett has posted 12 saves for Cincinnati this season and has struck out 23 in 17.1 innings en route to a 3.63 ERA.
· Burkett's 12 saves put him in a tie for third nationally in that category and tie with Shannon Morgan for first on UC's single-season saves chart and is now tied for third on UC's career saves list with 13.
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 45 games this season, the Bearcats pitching staff has been much improved as Cincinnati has an ERA of 3.77.
· Two of UC's starters, senior Tyler Smith and junior Dan Jensen have ERA's of 3.47 and 3.60, respectively.
· Senior Brian Garman and junior Brian Sand have both pitched 40-plus innings in relief this season and own ERA's of 1.51 and 2.81, respectively.
· Six of UC's pitchers who have completed at least 20.0 innings of action this season have ERA's below 4.00.
· Entering the week, UC ranked 11th nationally in earned run average (3.63).
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.
· After a win against Xavier on April 28, Cleary has accumulated 355 career wins 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.
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.