TicketsMay 10, 2010
CINCINNATI - With just eight games remaining in the 2010 regular season, the University of Cincinnati baseball team plays its final mid-week non-conference contests this week before focusing solely on BIG EAST Conference play when it takes on local rival Miami University in a home-and-home series beginning on Tuesday, May 11, at Marge Schott Stadium. Tuesday's start time is set for 6:30 p.m., while Wednesday's contest is scheduled for 6 p.m. at McKie Field at Hayden Park.
The two games this week mark the 160th and 161st all-time meetings between the two schools and Miami (OH) leads the series 97-61-1. UC took the first meeting between the schools this season, 3-2, in the championship game of the Joe Nuxhall Classic played at Miami University.
Miami is coming off a Mid-American Conference series win over MAC East Division leader Kent State and the RedHawks are now 23-23 on the season and 10-11 in MAC play. Adam Eaton leads the team in almost every offensive category, including batting average (.378), runs (53), hits (68), home runs (11), RBI (47), and stolen bases (25).
Alongside Eaton, four other RedHawk players are hitting over .300 including Kevin Bower (.329), Kyle Weldon (.327), Adam Weisenburger (.317), and Jon Edgington (.305).
As a group, the MU pitching staff has an ERA of 6.23 on the season, with the top ERA coming from closer Jordan Jankowski, who has eight saves and an ERA of 3.49 in 20 appearances.
Cincinnati enters the week with a 25-23 overall record and a 9-12 BIG EAST Conference record after bringing home one win in three games at No. 20 Connecticut. Freshman Andrew Strenge led the Bearcats to the 3-2 win over the nationally-ranked Huskies on Sunday afternoon by tossing his first career complete game in his first career start. Strenge became the first Bearcat freshman to toss a complete game since Dan Osterbrock went the distance in a 5-1 win at Villanova on May 6, 2006.
During the three-game set at Connecticut, junior Justin Riddell continued his torrid hitting at the plate going 4-for-11 on the weekend with two home runs and four RBI. Over the last nine conference games, Riddell is hitting .486 (17-for-35) with six extra base hits and a slugging percentage of .800. His two-run home run in the sixth inning on Sunday brought in UC's second and third runs of the day, proving to be the difference in the 3-2 decision.
Entering the week, Riddell and junior Chris Peters lead the team in hitting with averages of .308 and .305, respectively, while senior Jimmy Jacquot is the leading power threat and run producer in the UC lineup with 11 home runs and 41 RBI.
Following the mid-week games against Miami (OH), Cincinnati begins a six-game BIG EAST homestand beginning with a three-game series with No. 22 Pittsburgh. The Panthers own a record of 34-12 overall and a 15-5 conference mark, leaving them one game behind No. 20 UConn for first place in the conference. The three-game series begins on Friday, May 14, at 6:30 p.m. at Marge Schott Stadium, while the first pitches of Saturday's and Sunday's games are scheduled to be thrown at 4 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.