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CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team lost a 6-3 decision to Xavier University on Saturday afternoon at Hayden Field. The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Bearcats, which were one victory away from trying a program record with 11-straight wins.
Redshirt sophomore Connor McVey (Mason, Ohio/Mason) was 4-for-4 on the day with two singles, a double and a solo homerun.
The Bearcats did win the series with two victories over the Musketeers on Friday at Marge Schott Stadium.
// Notables
- Cincinnati falls to 11-12 on the year while Xavier improves to 8-15.
- Freshman starting pitcher A.J. Kullman (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) (2-2) took the loss while XU's Brad Kirshner (3-1) earned the win.
- The Bearcats were one win away from tying a program record for consecutive victories. The team won 11 straight games from April 29-May 11, 1979. The program's longest unbeaten streak (including two ties) was 16 games back in 1961.
- McVey's four hits extended his hitting streak to 19 straight games.
- The Bearcats turned one double play in the game and have 27 double plays through 23 games this season. The mark ranks fourth in the NCAA and first in the American Athletic Conference.
- Freshman Vince Augustine (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) hit his first-career homerun in the top of the fifth inning. He becomes the 10th UC player to hit a homerun this season, the most for the team since 11 different people hit homeruns during the 2012 season.
// Key Innings
Bottom of the Second
Xavier took advantage of a defensive miscue in the second inning to put Andre Jernigan on third base with just one out. Two batters later, sophomore Ryan Noda (Volo, Ill./Grant) fielded a bouncing grounder and threw home to get the runner but Jernigan slipped under the tag by senior catcher Woody Wallace (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) at the plate to score the game's first run.
Bottom of the Third
A pair of walks came back to haunt Kullman in the third inning when a double by Joe Gellenbeck scored two runs to give Xavier a 3-0 lead. Kullman then faced 2 runners on with only one out before escaping any further damage with a flyout and a groundout.
Top of the Fifth
Augustine hit his first-career homerun to get the Bearcats on the board. With one out, he sent a shot off the left field foul pole to get the Bearcats within 3-1.
Bottom of the Fifth
The Muskies answered in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back solo homeruns off Kullman to go ahead 5-1. Freshman Chris Gang (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) entered to pitch and faced one batter, getting a flyout to end the inning.
Top of the Seventh
After scoring a run in the sixth to get within 5-2, the Bearcats added a run in the 7th off the bat of McVey who hit his third homerun of the season, and second of the series, to bring the score to 5-3.
// Up Next
The Bearcats will leave Cincinnati for the first time in 21 days when they head to Bloomington, Indiana, on Tuesday, March 29, to take on the Hoosiers of Indiana University at 6:05 p.m. Head coach Ty Neal was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at IU for eight seasons before becoming the head coach at UC on June 7, 2013. Assistant coaches Ted Tom and Dustin Coffman also have ties to the IU coaching staff while Coffman graduated from Indiana in 2009.
// 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 (@GoBearcatsBASE) and Coach Neal (@Ty_Neal_UC) on twitter. You can also find the Bearcats on Facebook.
// Ticket Information
Season tickets for all 25 home matches can be purchased for as little $15. For more information, visit GoBEARCATS.com/tickets or call 1-877-CATS-TIX.