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CINCINNATI, Ohio -- For the second night in a row, the University of Cincinnati baseball team took down No. 6 UCF, winning 5-3 on Friday night at Marge Schott Stadium to win the American Athletic Conference series.
The Bearcats used a balanced offense to earn the win with every player in the lineup recording either a run, a hit or an RBI. For the second-straight game, sophomore R.J. Thompson (Mason, Ohio/Mason) led the team with two hits. Junior Devin Wenzel (Blandon, Pa./Fleetwood Area) scored a pair of runs for the Bearcats while freshman Kyle Mottice (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) notched two RBIs.
Sophomore pitcher Andrew Zellner (Farmersville, Ohio/Farmersville) entered from the bullpen for the second straight game to pick up his second-career save.
// NOTABLES
- With the victory, Cincinnati improves to 8-20 and 2-3 in the American Athletic Conference while UCF falls to 22-10 and 2-3.
- Freshman starting pitching David Orndorff (Pasadena, Calif./Pasadena Polytechnic) picked up his first-career victory to move to 1-1 on the year while Zellner notched his second save in as many days over the ranked opponent. UCF's Robby Howell took the loss to fall to 4-3 on the year.
- The win secured the team's first series victory over a ranked opponent on record.
- No. 6 UCF is the highest-ranked opponent that UC has beaten on record. The Bearcats topped a 7th-ranked Houston team 11-10 in 12 innings on April 20, 2002 in Texas.
- Head coach Ty Neal penciled six freshmen into the starting lineup and has started at least four youngsters in each game this season. Freshmen Noda and Manny Rodriguez (Brooklyn, N.Y./Calvert Hall) have started every game for UC.
- Junior Ian Happ (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) improved his on base streak to 26 consecutive games.
- Happ was walked twice in the game to give him 107 career free passes, good for sixth on the UC all-time walks list.
- Thompson has recorded multiple hits in four of his last six games and six times on the year.
- Mottice tied a career high with two RBIs in the game.
- UCF is ranked in the top-11 of all five major polls, checking in at No. 11 in the NCBWA poll, No. 10 in the D1Baseball.com poll, No. 11 in the USA Today Coaches' poll, No. 10 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and No. 6 in the Baseball America poll.
- The Knights' offense ranks among the top-5 in the NCAA in batting average, hits, homeruns, on base percentage, runs and slugging percentage.
// KEY INNINGS
Bottom of the First
The Bearcats played small ball to score the game's first run in the first inning. Thompson led off the game with a single through the left side, moved to second on a walk to Noda and took third on a wild pitch. Freshman Dalton Lehnen (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) then hit a popup that was deep enough to score Thompson and give UC a 1-0 lead.
Top of the Second
The Knights put a runner on third base after the wind wreaked havoc on a routine fly ball, dropping it in right field for a triple. Two batters later, a sacrifice fly scored the tying run.
Bottom of the Third
Cincinnati scored three runs in the bottom of the third to grab a 4-1 lead. Noda was walked to lead off the inning before Happ doubled over the shortstops head to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. After Wenzel fought off several pitches to draw a walk, Mottice doubled down the left field line to bring home two runs. The next batter, junior Woody Wallace (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Wenzel and give UC the 4-1 advantage.
Top of the Sixth
After UC extended the lead to 5-1, the Knights got a pair of runs back in the sixth. Dylan Moore doubled to right field to lead off the inning before James Vasquez launched his fourth homerun of the year to get UCF within 5-3.
// UP NEXT
Cincinnati will go for the series sweep against the nation's sixth-best team on Saturday afternoon with a noon first pitch from Marge Schott Stadium.
// FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
For all of the latest information on Cincinnati baseball, please visit GoBEARCATS.com. For up to the minute updates, follow Cincinnati baseball (@UCincyBaseball) and Coach Neal (@Ty_Neal_UC) on twitter. You can also find the Bearcats on Facebook.
// TICKET INFORMATION
Season tickets for all 23 home matches can be purchased for as little $10. For more information, visit GoBEARCATS.com/tickets or call 1-877-CATS-TIX.
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