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CLEARWATER, Fla. -- For the second straight season, the University of Cincinnati baseball team fell to the University of Houston in the opening game of the American Athletic Conference Championship, this time by a score of 9-1 on Tuesday afternoon in Clearwater, Florida. UC entered the game as the No. 4 seed in the tournament while Houston earned the No. 5 seed. The Bearcats will now play on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in an elimination game against the loser of No. 1 seed Tulane and No. 8 seed UCF which will be determined Tuesday evening.
Sophomore Ryan Noda (Volo, Ill./Grant) scored the only run for Cincinnati with a solo homerun to right field in the fifth inning. It was his sixth long ball of the season to tie for the team lead.
// Notables
- Starting pitcher A.J. Olasz (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin Area) (2-6) was saddled with the loss after pitching 5.1 innings with five hits allowed and a pair of strikeouts. Houston starter Trey Cumbie (5-2) picked up the win.
- Sophomore Kyle Mottice (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) recorded two hits to lead the UC offense, his team-high 16th multi-hit game. Since April 13, he is batting .372 with 35 hits in 23 games and has only failed to record a hit on three occasions.
- The Bearcats bats recorded 14 strikeouts on the day, just the second time they have had more than 10 in a game since April 12.
- The Cougars made the most of their base runners, leaving only two on base while the Bearcats stranded nine in the game.
- Cincinnati also lost to Houston in the opening round of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship by a score of 8-4. Houston was the No. 1 seed while Cincinnati was No. 8.
// Key Innings
Top of the Third
Houston broke the scoreless tie in the third inning after Justin Montemayor was hit to lead off the frame for the Cougars. A sacrifice bunt moved him over to second base before a single by Connor Wong drove him in.
Top of the Fifth
The Cougars added to their lead in the fifth when Josh Vidales doubled, moved to third on a single and scored on a squeeze bunt by Jose Reyes.
Bottom of the Fifth
Noda cut the Houston lead in half with his two-out solo homerun to right field.
Top of the Sixth
Houston had a pair of runners in scoring position when Connor Hollis laid down another squeeze bunt for the Cougars, this time scoring both runners for a 4-1 UH lead.
Bottom of the Eighth
Singles by Mottice and sophomore Treg Haberkorn (Leo, Ind./Leo) and a walk by redshirt sophomore Connor McVey (Mason, Ohio/Mason) loaded the bases with one out. The Cougars then brought in Nick Hernandez to pitch and the righty struck out the next two UC batters to end the inning and leave three Cincinnati runners on base.
Top of the Ninth
A three-run homerun by Zac Taylor over the wall in left field put the game out of reach for the Bearcats with a 9-1 Houston lead.
// Up Next
Cincinnati will play in an elimination game on Wednesday, May 25, vs. the loser of a game between No. 1 seed Tulane and No. 8 seed UCF. The game will start at 7 p.m. from Bright House Field and will be streamed live on the American Digital Network.
// 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.