TicketsHOUSTON – A three-run fourth inning broke open a tie game and propelled the University of Cincinnati baseball team to a 10-3 win over Houston for the American Athletic Conference series win on Sunday at Schroeder Park.
Cincinnati (24-21, 13-11 AAC) finished its eight-game road swing at 5-3 ahead of the final eight regular season games at UC Baseball Stadium, starting next weekend against East Carolina.
With things knotted up at 2-2 in the fourth, Cole Harting tagged an RBI triple to right field to score Griffin Merritt and Joe Powell. Jace Mercer was up next and hit a sac fly which allowed Harting to tag from third.
The Bearcats added a run in the sixth on Joey Bellini's RBI single and blew the game open with four runs in the eighth. Mercer hit his third double of the game with one out and scored on another RBI single from Bellini. Ryan Nicholson's sac fly scored Bellinin and Wyatt Stapp cleared the bases with a double which scored Tanner Holen and Eric Santiago making the score 10-3.
Mercer and Santiago both had three hits and two runs scored. Santiago also had a pair of hits with a walk.
UC starter Jalen Wade picked up the win, moving to 3-0 on the year. He went 6.0 solid innings, giving up three runs on six hits with a pair of strikeouts. Dean McCarthy got the three-inning save, his third of the year. He struck out six and crossed the 150 career strikeouts plateau.
SERIES NOTABLES
• Mercer hit .556, slugged .833 and racked up 10 hits, including five doubles along with four runs scored and two walks.
• Bellini hit .429 with nine hits, including a double, four runs scored and home run, with six RBIs.
• Merritt had two round trippers, a double, four runs scored and six hits along with six RBs.
• UC got 27.1 innings pitched out of its starters with three of four – Garrett Schoenle, Zach Segal and Jalen Wade – picking up wins.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati welcomes ECU for a four-game series at UC Baseball Stadium starting with a Friday doubleheader at 1 p.m. ET. The teams are also slated to meet at 4 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday.
All four games will air on ESPN+ with live stats on BearcatStats.com.
Single-game tickets are available. Fans should visit the baseball ticket page for more information or to make their purchase now! Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, 1,000 fans will be allowed in UC Baseball Stadium for game days.
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.
Cincinnati (24-21, 13-11 AAC) finished its eight-game road swing at 5-3 ahead of the final eight regular season games at UC Baseball Stadium, starting next weekend against East Carolina.
With things knotted up at 2-2 in the fourth, Cole Harting tagged an RBI triple to right field to score Griffin Merritt and Joe Powell. Jace Mercer was up next and hit a sac fly which allowed Harting to tag from third.
⬆️4⃣@COLEHARTING 2-RUN TRIPLE 👌
— Cincinnati Baseball (@GoBearcatsBASE) May 9, 2021
📺 https://t.co/fV6vkIJZiV
🐾 4 | 🐱 2 pic.twitter.com/Clf1WdLa79
The Bearcats added a run in the sixth on Joey Bellini's RBI single and blew the game open with four runs in the eighth. Mercer hit his third double of the game with one out and scored on another RBI single from Bellini. Ryan Nicholson's sac fly scored Bellinin and Wyatt Stapp cleared the bases with a double which scored Tanner Holen and Eric Santiago making the score 10-3.
UC had a taken a 2-0 lead in the first on a home run by Santiago which scored Bellini. Houston added runs on a solo homer in the first and sacrifice fly in the second.⬆️8⃣
— Cincinnati Baseball (@GoBearcatsBASE) May 9, 2021
👏👏👏👏🗣️ Deep in the heart of Texas.@StappWyatt busts this one open with a 2-run double!
📺 https://t.co/fV6vkIJZiV
🐾 10 | 🐱 3 pic.twitter.com/PrGi3keAQn
⬆️1⃣
— Cincinnati Baseball (@GoBearcatsBASE) May 9, 2021
SANTIAGO SMASH 💥@E_Sant13
📺 https://t.co/fV6vkIJZiV
🐾 2 | 🐱 0 pic.twitter.com/qTCZ4OHKJK
Mercer and Santiago both had three hits and two runs scored. Santiago also had a pair of hits with a walk.
UC starter Jalen Wade picked up the win, moving to 3-0 on the year. He went 6.0 solid innings, giving up three runs on six hits with a pair of strikeouts. Dean McCarthy got the three-inning save, his third of the year. He struck out six and crossed the 150 career strikeouts plateau.
SERIES NOTABLES
• Mercer hit .556, slugged .833 and racked up 10 hits, including five doubles along with four runs scored and two walks.
• Bellini hit .429 with nine hits, including a double, four runs scored and home run, with six RBIs.
• Merritt had two round trippers, a double, four runs scored and six hits along with six RBs.
• UC got 27.1 innings pitched out of its starters with three of four – Garrett Schoenle, Zach Segal and Jalen Wade – picking up wins.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati welcomes ECU for a four-game series at UC Baseball Stadium starting with a Friday doubleheader at 1 p.m. ET. The teams are also slated to meet at 4 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday.
All four games will air on ESPN+ with live stats on BearcatStats.com.
Single-game tickets are available. Fans should visit the baseball ticket page for more information or to make their purchase now! Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, 1,000 fans will be allowed in UC Baseball Stadium for game days.
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.