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Bearcats Back Home for Four Games Against Saint Joseph's

CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team will host Saint Joseph's this weekend for four games at UC Baseball Stadium. The series opener will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET Friday. Saturday's double header will begin at noon and Sunday's game will also begin at noon. All four games will be available to stream on ESPN+ . Live stats will be available at BearcatStats.com.

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Bearcats Back Home for Four Games Against Saint Joseph'sBearcats Back Home for Four Games Against Saint Joseph's

CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team will host Saint Joseph's this weekend for four games at UC Baseball Stadium. The series opener will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET Friday. Saturday's double header will begin at noon and Sunday's game will also begin at noon.

All four games will be available to stream on ESPN+ . Live stats will be available at BearcatStats.com.

CINCINNATI
2022 Record: 6-9, 0-0 AAC
Head Coach: Scott Googins
Record at UC: 101-102 (5th)
Career Record: 442-459 (17th)
 
SAINT JOSEPH'S
2022 Record: 9-4, 0-0 A10 
Head Coach: Fritz Hamburg
School Record: 282-324 (14th)
Career Record: Same

PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY, MARCH 18 
11 a.m. • ESPN+
LHP Tristan Weaver vs. RHP Ian McCole

SATURDAY, MARCH 19 (Game One)
12 p.m. • ESPN+
RHP Zach Segal vs. RHP Luke Smith

SATURDAY, MARCH 19 (Game Two)
3:30 p.m. • ESPN+
TBD vs. TBD

SUNDAY, MARCH 20
12 p.m. • ESPN+
RHP Garrett Harker vs. RHP Mike Falco

SERIES BUSINESS
UC and Saint Joesph's have never played.

SETTING THE STAGE

  • The Bearcats are hoping to get back on track this weekend after dropping their last five games to five different opponents. After two games at the First Pitch Invitational in Greenville, S.C., UC stayed in the state to play USC Upstate and Wofford, dropping both games. 
  • On the other side, Saint Joseph's is playing its best ball of the season. The Hawks are on a five-game win-streak that includes two wins against Fairfield, two against Radford and one against Villanova.

ABOUT THE BEARCATS

  • Despite the losses this past week, UC still averages 6.3 runs per game, which ranks top-five in the conference. The Bearcats have played the fewest games in the conference, but they rank first in home runs with 25 and are second in the AAC in slugging percentage (.472).
  • Redshirt junior outfielder Paul Komistek leads the team in average (.356) while redshirt junior outfielder Griffin Merritt paces the Bearcats in home runs (6) and also leads the team with a 1.180 OPS. 
  • Cincinnati currently has four starters with an OPS over 1.000 - Komistek (1.000), Merritt (1.180), redshirt sophomore infielder Ryan Nicholson (1.027) and redshirt sophomore catcher Joe Powell (1.048).
  • Sophomore pitcher Conner Linn has been great for UC so far. Through two starts, he owns a team-best 2.61 ERA. 

HOME COOKING

  • UC won its first home game against Ohio State, 5-4. That marks the sixth-straight year it has won its home opener.
  • Cincinnati followed that up by winning three of four against Northwestern. starting the year 4-1 at home.
  • The Bearcats have a 288-181 (.614) all-time record at UC Baseball Stadium and have only had three seasons with a .500 winning percentage or lower at home.
  • Since 2016, the team's home record is 96-50 (.658).

GOING, GOING, GONE

  • After the first weekend of college baseball this year, Cincinnati led the nation in home runs with nine. They now rank first in the conference with 25.
  • Nicholson and Sponseller have four each, Komistek and Harting have three and Merritt has six long balls. 
  • Catcher Cam Scheler has two, including a walk-off against Ohio State. Joe Powell also has two and Kameron Guidry has one.
  • The Bearcats launched 67 homers during the 2021 season, which ranked third in the conference. They are on pace for 88 right now.

ELITE OFFENSE

  • The Bearcats rank 20th in the nation in homers coming into this weekend and 16th in homers per game (1.82), both of which were tops in the AAC. They now have 25 homers (1st in AAC) and average 1.67 per game. 
  • In the conference, UC ranks second in slugging % (.472), fifth in runs scored per game (6.3). They also rank fourth in stolen bases per game with 1.00. They're 15-21 in stolen base attempts this season.
  • Paul Komistek, Ryan Nicholson, JP Sponseller and Griffin Merritt are leading the charge at the plate. Those four have combined for 17 home runs this year. 
  • Merritt's six homers are tied for the most in the conference. His .793 slugging percentage is in the top-45 in the country. 

CARDIAC 'CATS

  • The Bearcats have already ended two games this year with walk-off homers.
  • On March 2, Cam Scheler hit a pinch-hit walk-off homer to right field to beat Ohio State. 
  • Just three days later on March 5, Cole Harting hit his first homer of the year at the perfect time, driving one to right to beat Northwestern, 4-2.
  • Seven of UC's 15 games have been decided by two or less runs. Cincinnati's record is 4-3 in those games.
TICKET INFORMATION
Season tickets for the 2022 season are now on sale! 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.