Bearcats Hit The Road For First Action Of The Year Against Florida Gulf Coast

CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team opens the 2022 regular season on the road, traveling to Fort Myers, Fla. to take on Florida Gulf Coast for a four-games series from Friday to Sunday at Swanson Stadium. The teams will begin play on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET, then follow with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The series will come to a close on Sunday with a 11 a.m. start time.
 
All four games will air on FGCU Baseball's YouTube channel. Live stats are available at BearcatStats.com.
 
CINCINNATI
2021 Record: 29-26, 18-14 AAC
Head Coach: Scott Googins
Record at UC: 95-93 (5th)
Career Record: 436-450 (17th)
 
FLORIDA GULF COAST
2021 Record: 28-20, 12-6 ASUN
Head Coach: Dave Tollett
Record at FGCU: 636-385-3 (20th)
Career Record: Same 
 
PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY, FEB. 18
6:30 p.m. • YouTube
LHP Tristan Weaver vs. RHP Jason Woodward
 
SATURDAY, FEB. 19
GAME ONE
1 p.m. • YouTube
RHP Garrett Harker vs. LHP Daniel Batcher
 
SATURDAY, FEB. 19
GAME TWO
4:30 p.m. • YouTube
LHP Alex Shea vs. RHP Tyler Shuck
 
SUNDAY, FEB. 20
11 a.m. • YouTube
RHP Aiden Bradbury vs. TBA
 
SERIES BUSINESS
The Bearcats and Eagles have never crossed paths on the diamond, making this the first-ever matchup between these two programs. 
 
SETTING THE STAGE
The Bearcats come into the 2022 season with higher expectations than in recent years. They were picked to finish in third place by the conference's coaches in the 2022 American Athletic Conference Preseason Baseball Poll, which is the highest since joining the conference for the 2014 season. East Carolina was picked to finish first and Tulane was predicted to be the runner-up. 
 
ABOUT THE BEARCATS

• UC finished the 2021 baseball season with a 29-26 overall record and an 18-14 conference record. 
• After finishing fourth in the regular season standings, it lost to UCF and ECU in the AAC Tournament to end its year.
• As a team, UC finished in the top-three in the AAC in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.286, 2nd), runs scored (370, 2nd) and total bases (884, 2nd). 
• On the mound, the Bearcats ranked in the top-five in innings pitched (479.2, 5th), strikeouts (438, 5th) and hits allowed (486, 4th) in the conference.

 BEARCATS IN THE OUTFIELD

• Three Bearcats were named to the preseason All-AAC team - OF Paul Komistek, OF Cole Harting and OF Griffin Merritt.
• Harting, a sophomore, hit. 289, led the team in runs (49, 5th in AAC) and tied for the team-lead in home runs (10) in his true freshman season.
• Merritt, a junior, tied with Harting for the team-lead in home runs (10), was third in RBIs (38) and ranked fifth in OPS (.873).
• All three players landed on D1 Baseball's Preseason Top 150 Outfielders list. Komistek was ranked 26th in the nation, Harting was placed at 77th and Merritt came in at 127th. 

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

• Komistek, a redshirt junior outfielder from Knoxville, Tenn., was named the 2022 Preseason AAC Player of the Year by the league's coaches. 
• In the conference, he ranked second in BA (.364), third in slugging percentage (.599) and second in on-base percentage (.459), which all led UC in 2021. 
• That 2021 season earned him First Team All-AAC and First Team ABCA/Rawlings All-Region honors. Komistek is the second UC player to be named the AAC Preseason Player of the Year. The other was Ian Happ in 2015, who is now an outfielder for the Chicago Cubs. 

A NEW STANDARD

• UC was picked by the conference's coaches to finish in third place in the AAC in 2022, which is the highest since joining the conference for the 2014 season. 
• The highest the Bearcats have ever been picked to finish in the AAC prior to this year was fifth in 2017.

WELCOME TO CLIFTON

• The Bearcats brought into some serious talent via the transfer portal in 2022 and should see an immediate impact from at least a couple players. 
• JP Sponseller, a redshirt sophomore outfielder, came from Elon. His older brother, Lee, is a volunteer assistant coach in the program. 
• Tristan Weaver is a left-handed pitcher that came to UC from Indiana State. He is expected to be in the rotation for the Bearcats. 
• Other transfers include Ryan Steckline (LHP, Monmouth), Max Palmieri (INF, Lincoln Memorial) and Kameron Guidry (INF, Georgia).

BACK FOR MORE

• The Bearcats return some big bats this season after a great offensive year in 2021.
• Paul Komistek, 2022 Preseason AAC Player of the Year, will look to build on his 2021 season where he hit .364 and was named to the All-AAC First Team.
• Cole Harting and Griffin Merritt round out an outfield that should be one of the best, if not the best in the conference. Both players were named to the Preseason All-AAC Team. 
• Wyatt Stapp returns for a fifth season after starting 40 games and hitting .271 in 2021. He ended last season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
• In his first year starting in 2021, Ryan Nicholson proved that he belongs. The redshirt sophomore hit .291 and started 45 games for UC a year ago. 
• "We're a pretty hard-nosed, grind out at-bats kind of team this year," said Komistek. "You've got older guys like Jake Hansen (redshirt senior infielder) and Dondrae Bremner (redshirt senior infielder) that are going to step up... Then you've just got guys all around the field that will be competing against each other to see who can fill in the other roles."

RETURNING TO THE MOUND

• Zach Segal looks to help lead a UC pitching staff that lost a few key arms. Segal appeared in 18 games, started nine and pitched to a 5-4 record in his sophomore season. 
• Beau Keathley, while mostly working in relief in 2021, hopes to help anchor the pitching staff after striking out 42 batters in 41.0 innings with a 1.44 WHIP.
• Jackson Murphy will be back to anchor a Bearcats bullpen. In 2021, Murphy had a 3.21 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. He also led the team in pitching appearances with 22, all out of the bullpen.

TICKET INFORMATION
Season tickets for the 2022 season are now on sale! The Bearcats open up their home slate on Friday, March 4th as they host Northwestern at UC Baseball Stadium. To purchase season tickets, visit cpaw.me/SeasonTickets or call 1-877-CATS-TIX (1-877-228-7849).
 
FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
For up-to-the-minute updates, follow @GoBearcatsBASE on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

NOTE: All dates and times are subject to change due to weather. All schedule changes will be announced on Twitter at @GoBearcatsBASE.