TicketsCINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team will take on the Wright State Raiders Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. ET in the second leg of the Joe Nuxhall Classic at McKie Field in Oxford, Ohio.
The game will not be streamed and live stats will be available at SidarmStats.com.
CINCINNATI
2022 Record: 10-16, 1-2 AAC
Head Coach: Scott Googins
Record at UC: 105-109 (5th)
Career Record: 446-466 (17th)
WRIGHT STATE
2022 Record: 12-13, 7-2 Horizon
Head Coach: Alex Sogard
School Record: 98-54 (4th)
Career Record: Same
PITCHING MATCHUP
FRIDAY, APRIL 5
3 p.m. • Sidearm
LHP Carter Earls vs. RHP Sam Wirsing
SERIES BUSINESS
UC trails in the all-time series against Wright State, 39-46-1. The teams have not played since 2019 when Wright State took both games they played that season.
SETTING THE STAGE
- UC went 1-2 on the weekend to open up conference play against East Carolina. The Bearcats won the first game, 7-3, before dropping the next two.
- WSU swept Purdue Fort Wayne this weekend, outscoring them by a score of 34-17.
ABOUT THE BEARCATS
- The Bearcats average 7.1 runs per game, which leads the American Athletic Conference.
- The Bearcats have two players in the top-3 in home runs in the conference. Griffin Merritt is tied for the league-lead with nine and Ryan Nicholson is on his heels with seven of his own. Paul Komistek's 42 hits lead the conference.
- Cincinnati currently has four starters with five or more home runs - Merritt (9), Nicholson (7), Komistek (5) and Joe Powell (5). Those four alone have accounted for over 46% of the team's RBIs and 65% of the home runs.
- Merritt (1.162), Komistek (1.108) and Powell (1.269) each have over a 1.000 OPS, and Komistek (.404) and Powell's (.375) batting averages rank second and fourth in the AAC, respectively.
- As a team, UC has hit 40 homers and 1.54 homers per game, both of which are best in the conference and in the top-30 nationally. The team also leads the AAC in batting average (.285), slugging percentage (.495) and is second in on-base percentage (.380).
ELITE OFFENSE
- The Bearcats rank 30th in the nation with 40 homers and 26th in homers per game (1.54), both of which are tops in the AAC.
- In the conference, UC leads in slugging % (.494), is first in runs scored per game (7.1), first in batting average (.284) and first in total bases (438). Its .379 on-base percentage is good for second in the AAC.
- Joe Powell (.766) and Griffin Merritt (.750) rank first and second, respectively, in the AAC in slugging percentage. Those numbers are good for 19th and 31st in the country.
KOMISTEK RAKES
- Through 26 games, Komistek is second in the AAC with a .404 batting average and leads the league in hits with 42.
- He's tied for the team-lead in runs (25), ranks second in total bases (65), third in homers (5) and third in slugging % (.625).
- His .483 on-base percentage is the third-highest in the conference. In five games this past week, Komistek hit .571 (12-21), scored six times, drove in four runs and walked three times.
- 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.
AAC PLAY
- The Bearcats went 1-2 aganst ECU in the opening weekend of AAC play.
- Coming into this weekend, head coach Scott Googins has a 44-39 (.530) record at UC in conference play.
- The Bearcats will follow the Houston series with three of their last five AAC series' on the road, ending with three games against UCF on May 19-21.
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 30th in the nation with 40.
- Harting and Sponseller have four each, Nicholson has seven, Komistek has five and Merritt has 9 long balls.
- Joe Powell has five homers in only 64 at-bats, averaging one every 12.8 ABs.
- The Bearcats launched 67 homers during the 2021 season, which ranked third in the conference. They are on pace for 81 right now.
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.