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Bearcats to Square Off Against ECU this Weekend

CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team will travel to Greenville, N.C. this weekend to take on the ECU Pirates for the second time this season. The series begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday and will continue on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. before wrapping up on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available at BearcatStats.com.

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Bearcats to Square Off Against ECU this WeekendBearcats to Square Off Against ECU this Weekend

CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team will travel to Greenville, N.C. this weekend to take on the ECU Pirates for the second time this season. The series begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday and will continue on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. before wrapping up on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available at BearcatStats.com.

CINCINNATI
2022 Record: 17-21, 7-5 AAC
Head Coach: Scott Googins
Record at UC: 112-114 (5th)
Career Record: 453-471 (17th)
 
ECU
2022 Record: 24-17, 8-4 AAC
Head Coach: Cliff Godwin
School Record: 282-147-1 (8th)
Career Record: Same

SERIES BUSINESS
UC trails in the all-time series against the Pirates, 8-29-2. In the series earlier this season, ECU took two of the three games at UC Baseball Stadium. 

SETTING THE STAGE

  • UC is looking to bounce back after dropping its most recent weekend series against USF, losing two of three. 
  • ECU was on a five-game win-streak, but has dropped three of its last four, including a 12-3 loss to NC State on Tuesday.
ABOUT THE BEARCATS
  • The Bearcats average 7.3 runs per game, which leads the American Athletic Conference.
  • Griffin Merritt leads the conference with 15 homers and Joe Powell (.373) and Paul Komistek (.362) both rank in the top-seven in the AAC in batting average. 
  • Cincinnati leads the conference in homers with 58 thanks to a deep lineup filled with pop. Merritt (15), Nicholson (9), Komistek (7), Cole Harting (5), JP Sponseller (5) and Joe Powell (5) have accounted for 79% of the team's home runs and over 68% of the RBIs. 
  • Merritt (1.174), Komistek (1.0121) and Powell (1.196) each have over a 1.000 OPS, and Merritt (.765) and Powell's (.716) slugging percentages rank first and third in the AAC, respectively.
  • As a team, UC has hit 58 homers and 1.53 homers per game, both of which are best in the conference and in the top-30 nationally.  

CINCINNATI SLUGGERS

  • The Bearcats rank 30th in the nation with 58 homers and 23rd in homers per game (1.53), both of which are tops in the AAC. 
  • In the conference, UC leads in slugging % (.488) and is second in total bases (636). Its .378 on-base percentage is good for third in the AAC.
  • Griffin Merritt (.765) and Joe Powell (.716) rank first and third, respectively, in the AAC in slugging %. Those numbers are good for 17th and 35th in the country.

LAST TIME VS THE PIRATES

  • The last time UC and ECU played, ECU took two of three from the Bearcats in Cincinnati. 
  • ECU outscored UC in those games, 23-21.
  • Komistek went 8-13 (.615) in the series, scoring four runs in the process while hitting leadoff. 
  • ECU has won five of the past seven matchups. These  will be the 13th, 14th and 15th games between UC and ECU since the start of 2021.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE

  • In 30 games played, catcher Joe Powell is hitting .373 (4th in AAC), has an OBP of .480 (2nd in AAC) and is slugging .716 (3rd in AAC).
  • His five homers rank fourth on the team and his three four are the most in the conference. 
  • In the field, Powell has a 1.000 fielding % and has thrown out nine runners on the base paths this season.

KOMISTEK RAKES

  • Through 35 games, Komistek is seventh in the AAC with a .362 batting average and is fifth in the league in hits with 55. 
  • He's second on the team in runs (36), ranks second in total bases (87), third in homers (7) and third in slugging % (.572).
  • His .449 on-base percentage is the sixth-highest in the conference. 
  • The 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.
  • Komistek is only 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.

BIG BEAU

  • Beau Keathley earned AAC pitcher of the week after throwing six shutout innings against Saint Joseph's while striking out 12 batters on March 19.
  • He just threw a complete game against Houston on April 9, and has now thrown two-straight quality starts after going six innings against Wichita State on April 15.

SHUT 'EM DOWN

  • Conner Linn pitched a quality start in his first-ever start, going 6.1 innings while only giving up three runs. He now has a 3.81 ERA in five starts and threw six innings of one-run ball against ECU on April 1.
  • Tristan Weaver threw a seven-inning complete game against Northwestern on March 4, striking out six.
  • In his first home start, Garrett Harker was one out shy from throwing a seven-inning complete game. He was also just named the AAC pitcher of the week for throwing six shutout innings in a 14-inning win on April 15.
TICKET INFORMATION
To purchase single-game tickets or flex packs, visit GoBearcats.com/Tickets 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.