Baseball Opens AAC Championship With UCF Tuesday

CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati baseball team returns to Clearwater, Florida for the 2021 American Athletic Conference Championship at BayCare Ballpark.
 
The No. 4 seeded Bearcats open up with No. 5 UCF on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 9 a.m. ET and are the defending tournament champions, having taken home the trophy in 2019. 
 
All AAC Championship games will air on ESPN+ with Sunday's championship finale set to air on ESPNews.
 
SERIES BUSINESS
The teams split their season series 2-2 with UCF holding a 13-8 lead in the all-time ledger. Tuesday marks their third meeting in AAC Championship play with an even 1-1 mark. 
 
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
Eight-team double elimination modified College World Series format. The teams advancing out of each group will play a single-elimination championship game on Sunday, May 30.

Group A: = Seeds #1, #4, #5 and #8 • Group B: Seeds #2, #3, #6 and #7

Tuesday, May 25 | ESPN+
Game 1: No. 5 UCF vs. No. 4 Cincinnati | 9 a.m.
ESPN+ | Live Stats

Visit AAC Baseball Championship Central for more information. 

ABOUT THE BEARCATS

• UC is 29-24 and closed the regular season with a four-game sweep of Tulane at UC Baseball Stadium.
• As a team, UC is hitting at a .284 clip with an AAC-leading 95 doubles and double-digit hits in 30 games.
• On the mound, UC has a team ERA of 5.56 with 424 strikeouts over 253 walks. 

 
YOU LOOK FAMILIAR ...

• UC hitting coach Kyle Sprague was at UCF from 2014-15, working with the outfielders and coaching first base as the Knights ascended to No. 6 in the nation in 2015.
• UCF Head Coach Greg Lovelady was at Wright State from 2005-16, serving as an assistant (2005-06), associate head coach (2007-13) and head coach (2014-16).
• UCF assistant Ted Tom was at UC from 2015-17, serving as director of operations (2015), assistant coach (2016-17) and UC's interim head coach at the close of 2017.
• UCF pitching coach Nick Otte spent nine seasons at Xavier from 2010-18, serving on UC Head Coach Scott Googins' staff for eight of his nine seasons across town.

 
SENIOR SALUTE

• UC honored its senior class prior to Saturday's matchup with the Pirates, including: Joey Bellini, Dondrae Bremner, Jake Hansen, Tanner Holen, Dean McCarthy, Jace Mercer, Jake Meyer, Nate Moore, Jake Murray, Eric Santiago, Garrett Schoenle, Wyatt Stapp, Jalen Wade and student managers Michael DeLong and Jake Swearingen.

 
WRAPPING UP WEEKLY HONORS

• Cole Harting was named the AAC Player of the Week while pitcher Evan Shawver earned a spot on the honor roll following.UC's four-game sweep of Tulane at UC Baseball Stadium.
• Harting hit .556 and slugged 1.167 for the week, getting 10 hits, scoring eight runs with three doubles, two home runs, a triple and a pair of stolen bases.
• Shawver got the win on Friday in an 11-1, seven-inning victory over the Green Wave. He threw 90 pitches in a six-inning outing, striking out eight and giving up one run on two hits. He notched career K 150 during the game and moved to 3-1 on the year.

 
FIVE BEARCATS EARN ALL-AAC NOD

• Five UC baseball student-athletes earned All-AAC honors as the league announced its postseason awards ahead of the AAC Tournament in Clearwater, Florida.
• Outfielder Paul Komistek and pitcher Garrett Schoenle earned first-team accolades while shortstop Joey Bellini, second baseman Jace Mercer and designated hitter Griffin Merritt were tabbed for second-team honors.
• UC's five honorees are the most since joining the AAC in 2014. Cincinnati finished the regular season at 29-24, 18-14 in AAC play giving their Bearcats an over .500 finish in regular-season games for the first time since 2011.
• Bellini started 51 games at shortstop, teaming with Mercer to help UC lead the AAC with double plays. Bellini batted .311 in AAC games and finished with 66 hits including 11 doubles, a triple and three home runs. 
• Komistek led the team with a .353 batting average, including 54 hits, 10 doubles, seven home runs, 21 walks and 39 RBIs. He belted five of his homers in league play and scored 28 runs.
• Mercer hit .352 on the year and .391 in AAC play. His 22 stolen bases were the most on the team. He led the team in slugging percentage (.563), total bases (112), hits (70) and tied for the team lead in walks (26). He also teamed with Bellini to help UC lead the American in double plays (49).
• Merritt tied for the team lead with 10 home runs and compiled a .278 average with 50 hits, including 10 doubles and two triples. He walked 22 times and stole five bases.
• Schoenle finished the regular season at 6-3 with a 3.97 earned run average. He was named AAC Pitcher of the Week on April 26 and earned AAC Honor Roll on three occasions. He made 14 starts, throwing 70.1 innings with 82 strikeouts over 22 walks. He threw his first career complete game at Houston on May 7.

 
MILESTONE WATCH

• Jace Mercer has 61 career stolen bases and is tied for fifth all time with Troy Muckerheide (1992-95). He needs two to tie Josh Harrison (2006-08) for fourth and eight to match Connor McVey (2014-18) for third (69). Mercer also needs four hits for 200 in his career and needs an RBIs for 100. 
• Eric Santiago has 218 hits and needs 2 to tie for 10th all-time at 220 hits. He also needs six doubles for 50, which would put him at ninth all time. 46 is 10th.
• Wyatt Stapp is seven hits from 150 and 20 RBIs from 100.

 
TURN IT UP!

• The Cincinnati infield has turned an AAC-best 49 doubles plays this season and trails Arizona State (52) and Auburn (50) nationally. UC is second in the AAC in fielding percentage at .978.

 
DOUBLING THE HIT PARADE

• UC leads the American in both hits (524) and doubles (95).

 
GOING, GOING, GONE

• The Bearcats have belted 63 home runs thus far in 2021, third in the American behind ECU (66) and UCF (65).
• Cole Harting and Griffin Merritt both hit 10, while Jace Mercer has nine and Paul Komistek and Eric Santiago have seven.
• Merritt has hit eight of his 10 homers against AAC foes.
• UC is 16-4 in 20 games this season when hitting two or more home runs and 21-10 when hitting a home run in a game.
• UC has seven players with five or more homers this season.

 
A LEAGUE-PLAY REVIVAL

• Ryan Nicholson has overcome a slow start and has his hit .343 in AAC play. His 26 walks are tied with Jace Mercer for the UC lead.

 
DUAL ROLES FOR MCCARTHY

• LHP Dean McCarthy has split time as a starter and reliever this season, making 17 appearances in 2021.
• The grad transfer from Elon made seven starts to open the campaign but his last nine trips have been out of the bullpen.
• He has pitched 60 innings, going 4-3 with three saves.

 
COVERING ALL THE BASES

• Senior 3B Eric Santiago has played 225 games played for the Bearcats, covering every field position and designated hitter.
• He pitched to one batter in the final game of the Tulane series, walking him on four pitches, his first trip to the mound.
• He's made the most appearances at third base, totaling 125 entering the AAC Tournament.
• The position he's made the fewest appearances at? Catcher, with just the ninth inning against UCF at UCBS on May 12, 2017.
• His 225 career games played is tied for fifth all-time at UC.

 
LET'S. GET. ACADEMIC!

• UC had a 3.359 spring 2021 GPA with nine TOP CATS (4.0 GPA), 24 on the Dean's List (3.4+) and 33 on the Bearcats Honor Roll.

 
FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
For all the latest information on Cincinnati baseball, please visit GoBEARCATS.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow UC baseball (@GoBearcatsBase) and Coach Googins (@CoachGoogs) on Twitter. You can also find the Bearcats on Instagram and Facebook.