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CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team walked off on Wednesday night, beating the University of Kentucky 2-1 in 10 innings at Marge Schott Stadium. The Bearcats only needed two runs in the game, thanks to a quality start on the mound from junior A.J. Olasz (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin Area) who tossed a career-high 6.2 innings in the no-decision.
The Bearcats took advantage of two UK errors, scoring on both, including a throwing error with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning that gave Cincinnati the victory. With freshman Eric Santiago (Bethlehem, Pa./Notre Dame Green Pond) on second base, a grounder by senior R.J. Thompson (Mason, Ohio/Mason) forced an errant throw from the third basemen and allowed Santiago to scamper home for the winning run.
// NOTABLES
- With the win, Cincinnati improves to 5-6 on the season while Kentucky falls to 8-6
- Sophomore A.J. Kullman (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) picked up the win after tossing the final 2.1 innings for the Bearcats to move to 2-1 on the season. UK's Logan Salow (0-2) took the loss from the bullpen.
- The Bearcats improve their overall record against Kentucky to 30-58-3 and snap a nine-game winning streak by the Wildcats in the series. UC's last win over its rival from Lexington came back on March 25, 2008.
- Redshirt junior Connor McVey (Mason, Ohio/Mason) drew a pair of walks in the game and is one of only nine players in the American Athletic Conference to reach base safely in every game of the 2017 season.
- Olasz needed just 63 pitches to throw a career-high 6.2 innings and limited the Wildcats to just two hits and no runs scored with one walk and two strikeouts.
- After going 18-7 at home last season, the Bearcats open play at Marge Schott Stadium with a 2-0 record.
- Cincinnati is 2-0 in extra-inning games after taking the season-opener 3-2 in 10 innings at Northwestern State on Feb. 17.
// KEY INNINGS
Bottom of the Seventh
After battling through a pitching duel for the first six innings of the game, the Bearcats finally broke through in the seventh. Junior Kyle Mottice (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Jackson) singled, moved to second on a walk to junior Ryan Noda (Volo, Ill./Grant) and took third on a single by sophomore pinch hitter Cole Murphy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills). As the ball made its way back from the outfield after Murphy's single, it got away from the Kentucky catcher and Mottice took advantage, scoring the game's first run for 1 -0 Bearcats lead.
Top of the Eighth
The Wildcats immediately responded in the eighth when a leadoff double brought about a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 1-1.
Bottom of the 10th
Santiago was walked to lead off the 10th inning and moved to second on a two-out walk to McVey. Thompson then bounced a grounder to the third baseman who sailed his throw over the first base bag to allow Santiago to score the walk-off run.
// UP NEXT
The Bearcats are back on the road for their final non-conference away series of the year at Tennessee in Knoxville, March 10-12. UC and UT will face off at 6 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Senior Andrew Zellner (Farmersville, Ohio/Valley View) and junior J.T. Perez (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville) are expected to get the starts for the Bearcats on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
// 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.