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Haberkorn Diving Catch
CINCINNATI - Sophomore starting pitcher J.T. Perez (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville) pitched his first-career complete game shutout to lead the University of Cincinnati baseball team to a 1-0 victory over the University of Houston on Saturday night at Marge Schott Stadium. It was the third consecutive complete game for the Bearcats after sophomore David Orndorff (Pasadena, Calif./Pasadena Polytechnic) did so on Sunday, May 8, and junior Andrew Zellner (Farmersville, Ohio/Valley View) accomplished the feat on Friday, May 13.
Sophomore Kyle Mottice (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) was once again the offensive engine for the Bearcats with two of Cincinnati's five hits. Sophomore Treg Haberkorn (Leo, Ind./Leo) scored the game's only run in the fourth inning on a RBI-single by junior R.J. Thompson (Mason, Ohio/Mason).
// Notables
- With the win, Cincinnati improves to 23-26-1 on the year and 11-8-1 in The American while Houston falls to 30-20 and 9-10.
- Perez (6-4) earned the win and is tied for the team lead with six victories on the season. UH's Mitch Ullom (6-3) took the loss.
- All four starting pitchers in the first two games of the series have pitched complete games for their respective teams.
- Mottice singled in the third and fifth innings to extend his on-base streak to 17 games and his hitting streak to 11 games. His hitting streak began with a five-hit performance against Memphis on April 23. - Mottice led the team with a pair of hits, his team-leading 12th multi-hit game of the season.
- The Bearcats improve to 6-3 in shutouts this season and won their fourth game by a 1-0 score line. The six shutout victories is the most for a UC team since winning seven clean sheets in 1992.
- Houston was picked as the league favorite in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' poll.
// Key Innings
Top of the Second
A UC fielding error put a runner on and a groundout moved them over to second before Perez teamed with redshirt sophomore Connor McVey (Mason, Ohio/Mason) to catch Josh Vidales stealing. A two-out walk put another runner on base and a deep fly ball by Zac Taylor threatened to score a run for Houston but an acrobatic diving catch by Haberkorn in the right centerfield gap ended the inning to keep the Cougars scoreless.
Bottom of the Fourth
Haberkorn singled and stole second to put a Cincinnati runner in scoring position with one out. Thompson them lined a shot into right center field to bring home Haberkorn for what would become the game's only run.
Top of the Eighth
Back-to-back one-out singles seemed to have Houston in business in the eighth inning but Peres fielded a bouncing ball back up the middle and quickly turned a double play, the Bearcats' second of the game and 48th of the season, to end the threat.
// Up Next
Cincinnati and Houston will play the rubber match of their three-game series on Sunday, May 15, with a 1 p.m. first pitch at Marge Schott Stadium. The game will represent Senior Day for Cincinnati, which will honor five seniors, including student manager Zach Scarberry, former player turned student manager Bryan Chenoweth and current players Mitch Patishall, Woody Wallace and Devin Wenzel.
// 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
Tickets for the final home matches of 2016 can be purchased at GoBEARCATS.com/tickets or by calling 1-877-CATS-TIX.