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NATCHITOCHES, La. - The University of Cincinnati baseball wasted no time with the dramatics, opening the year with a 3-2 10-inning victory over Northwestern State on Friday night in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Redshirt junior Connor McVey (Mason, Ohio/Mason) went 3-for-5 to lead the Bearcats and launched his first homerun of the season in the win.
On the mound, senior Andrew Zellner (Farmersville, Ohio/Valley View) began his final campaign at Cincinnati with a 6.1-inning no-decision, hurling six strikeouts and allowing just one run.
// NOTABLES
- With the win, Cincinnati opens the season with a 1-0 record while Northwestern State goes 0-1.
- Sophomore reliever A.J. Kullman (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) earned the win after tossing the final 3.2 innings for the Bearcats with five strikeouts. NSU's Kyle Swanson took the loss.
- Cincinnati is now 1-1 all-time against the Demons. The first game of the series was played back on Feb. 22, 1997, a 10-9 Northwestern State victory.
- After leading the team with a .292 batting average in 2016, McVey picked up where he left off with three hits in the season opener. He opened his homerun bank early in the season after totaling just six longballs in his first three season combined.
- Junior Ryan Noda (Volo, Ill./Grant) stuffed the stat sheet with one hit, one run and two walks.
- UC improves to 2-2 in season openers under manager Ty Neal. Three of those four games have been extra-inning affairs.
// KEY INNINGS
Top of the First
In his first plate appearance of the season, McVey launched a solo homerun to left field to give Cincinnati an early 1-0 lead.
Bottom of the Second
A leadoff triple put a runner in scoring position for the Demons before a sacrifice fly by Matthew Alford tied the game at 1-1.
Top of the Seventh
Noda singled and stole second before scoring a run on a double by sophomore Cam Alldred (Batavia, Ohio/Cincinnati Country Day) for a 2-1 Bearcats advantage.
Bottom of the Eighth
Northwestern State came back to tie the score at 2-2 in the eighth after a leadoff walk led to a sacrifice bunt and a single.
Top of the 10th
Senior R.J. Thompson (Mason, Ohio/Mason) scored the winning run in the extra fame after opening the inning with a single. He advanced to second on a perfectly-executed sacrifice bunt by junior Treg Haberkorn (Leo, Ind./Leo) and moved to third on an infield single by junior Kyle Mottice (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) before a Demons throwing error allowed Thompson to scamper home for the go-ahead run.
// UP NEXT
The Bearcats and the Demons will continue their three-game series on Saturday, Feb. 18, at Brown-Stroud Field. Cincinnati will send junior J.T. Perez (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville) to the mound in search of the series victory. The first pitched is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. CT.
// 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 24 home matches can be purchased for as little $15. For more information, visit GoBEARCATS.com/tickets or call 1-877-CATS-TIX.