TicketsCINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team travels to Louisville for a Wednesday matchup against the third-ranked Cardinals on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. ET.
The games will be streamed on ACC Network and live stats will be available at BearcatStats.com.
CINCINNATI
2022 Record: 13-17, 3-3 AAC
Head Coach: Scott Googins
Record at UC: 108-110 (5th)
Career Record: 449-467 (17th)
LOUISVILLE
2022 Record: 23-8, 9-3 ACC
Head Coach: Dan McDonnell
School Record: 669-274 (16th)
Career Record: Same
PITCHING MATCHUP
TUESDAY, APRIL 12
6 p.m. • ACC Network
RHP Zach Segal vs. TBD
SERIES BUSINESS
UC trails in the all-time series against Louisville, 86-101. The teams have split the last four games.
SETTING THE STAGE
- UC is coming off a 3-1 week that included a home win against Wright State and a series win against Houston. The Bearcats are 3-3 in AAC play.
- Louisville won two of three against #20 North Carolina this past weekend, including back-to-back extra inning wins.
ABOUT THE BEARCATS
- The Bearcats average 7.2 runs per game, which ranks second in the American Athletic Conference and is only 0.1 off the leader Tulane (7.3).
- The Bearcats have two players in the top-5 in home runs in the conference. Griffin Merritt is tied for first with 10 and Ryan Nicholson ranks fifth with eight of his own. Paul Komistek's 46 hits trail the conference leader by one.
- Cincinnati is the only team in the AAC that has five starters with five or more home runs - Merritt (10), Nicholson (8), Komistek (5), Cole Harting (5) and Joe Powell (5). Those five alone have accounted for 75% of the team's home runs and over 62% of the RBIs.
- Merritt (1.139), Komistek (1.080) and Powell (1.229) each have over a 1.000 OPS, and Komistek (.397) and Powell's (.368) batting averages rank second and sixth in the AAC, respectively.
- As a team, UC has hit 44 homers and 1.47 homers per game, both of which are best in the conference and in the top-36 nationally. The team also leads the AAC in slugging percentage (.494) and is second in batting average (.284).
ELITE OFFENSE
- The Bearcats rank 36th in the nation with 44 homers and 32th in homers per game (1.47), both of which are tops in the AAC.
- In the conference, UC leads in slugging % (.494), is second in runs scored per game (7.2), second in batting average (.284) and first in total bases (497). Its .381 on-base percentage is good for third in the AAC.
- Joe Powell (.750) and Griffin Merritt (.735) rank first and second, respectively, in the AAC in slugging percentage. Those numbers are good for 29th and 34th in the country.
LAST TIME VS THE CARDINALS
- The last time UC and Louisville played was on March 30, 2021 when the Bearcats walked off the No. 5 Cardinals and won 13-12 in 10 innings.
- Redshirt sophomore infielder and Louisville native Ryan Nicholson hit a walk-off single into right field to score Josh Hegemann.
- The Bearcats belted four homers in the game, two by Eric Santiago, and had 14 hits in total.
- Beau Keathley recorded his first win of the season, throwing two innings of one-hit ball to upset No. 5 Louisville in a four-hour eight-minute game.
- The win marked UC's first win over Louisville since March 21, 2017.
CARDIAC 'CATS
- The Bearcats have already ended four games this year with walk-offs - two homers, a triple and a wild pitch.
- 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.
- Joe Powell hit a two-run triple to deep center against Houston on April 9 to walk-off against the Cougars.
GOING, GOING, GONE
- After the first weekend of college baseball this year, UC led the nation in home runs with nine. They now rank first in the conference and 36th in the nation with 44.
- Harting, Komistek and Powell have five each, Nicholson has eight and Merritt has 10 long balls.
- Joe Powell has his five homers in only 76 at-bats, averaging one every 15.2 ABs.
- The Bearcats launched 67 homers during the 2021 season, which ranked third in the conference. They are on pace for 77 right now.
THE BULLPEN CREW
- Jackson Murphy (22), Max Bergmann (16), Beau Keathley (14) and Aiden Bradbury (10) were all among the team leader bullpen appearances last season.
- Bergmann has thrown 33.1 innings, including five outings where he's gone four or more innings in relief.
- Evan Kemp has a 2.70 ERA in seven appearances out of the bullpen so far.
- In his last three appearances, Alex Shea has thrown six innings while giving up two hits and striking out nine.
- Chase Hopewell looks like he's settling in on the mound, allowing only two runs in his last 6.2 innings pitched. He also recorded his first career save on April 6 against Wright State.
- Murphy earned his second win of the season against Wright State on April 6, and threw two more shutout innings against Houston. Five of his last six outings have been scoreless.
BEARCATS WITH A BRIGHT FUTURE
- UC placed two players in D1 Baseball's top-10 AAC prospects for the 2023 MLB Draft with Harting (No. 4) and Harker (No. 9) both earning spots on the list.
- UC was also represented in the AAC prospect ranking for the 2022 MLB Draft. Hopewell (No. 21); Komistek (No. 24); Nicholson (No. 31); Powell (No. 33) and Merritt (No. 36) all garnered attention as draft-eligible players.
- Both Harker (No. 6) and catcher Boston Smith (No. 10) were named impact freshman to watch in 2022.
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).
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NOTE: All dates and times are subject to change due to weather. All schedule changes will be announced on Twitter at @GoBearcatsBASE.