TicketsCINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team opened its four-game weekend series vs. Northern Illinois with a 13-5 win on Friday at UC Baseball Stadium.
The 13 runs are a season-high for the Bearcats (5-4), who have plated double-digit runs three times this year.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third until UC struck first, then scored in every subsequent inning to keep building upon its lead.
Four Bearcats had multi-hit efforts on Friday, including Christian Mitchelle who went 3-for-4 with a couple RBI. Luke Sefcik, Landyn Vidourek, and Josh Kross all had two-hit days.
Sefcik had two doubles and drove in two runs, and both Dalton Pearson and Josh Hegemann tallied two RBI as well.
Tommy O'Connor walked and doubled to extend his on-base streak to 24 games dating back to last season.
Nathan Taylor struck out seven in five innings of work and earned his third win of the year. The freshman hurler retired the first 10 batters he faced.
Ryan Insco and Brendan Garula were solid out of the bullpen, combining to throw four shutout innings to end the game.
Cincinnati and Northern Illinois will face off in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon. Game one will be a seven-inning contest, while game two will be a full nine-inning game.
// HOW IT HAPPENED
Nathan Taylor sent down the first 10 NIU hitters of the game, striking out four of them, and was provided an early lead thanks to the Bearcats' two-run third inning. Luke Sefcik opened the inning with a double, then Christian Mitchelle drove him home with a two-bagger in the very next at-bat. Mitchelle stole third to put himself 90 feet away from scoring, and eventually touched home on Josh Hegemann's sac fly to make it 2-0.
NIU's Ryan Summerhill tied the game at 2-2 with a two-run homer in the top of the fourth, but the Bearcats reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning.
UC loaded the bases with three straight singles to begin the inning and Sefcik broke the tie with a sac fly to put the score at 3-2. Two batters later, Dalton Pearson laced a double into left field to bring home two runs and Mitchelle later scored on an RBI fielder's choice to make it 6-2.
Summerhill's second home run of the game was a three-run shot in the top of the fifth to put NIU within a run, 6-5, but the Bearcats got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double by Landyn Vidourek.
Cincinnati scored two runs each in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to put the game out of reach. Sefcik and Mitchelle drove in runs in the seventh to push the Bearcats' run total into double-digits, while Tommy O'Connor's RBI double and Josh Kross' RBI fielder's choice provided more insurance runs in the eighth.
Ryan Insco shut down the Huskies in the sixth and seventh frames and Brendan Garula threw scoreless eighth and ninth innings to keep NIU off the scoreboard for the remainder of the night.
// 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.
The 13 runs are a season-high for the Bearcats (5-4), who have plated double-digit runs three times this year.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third until UC struck first, then scored in every subsequent inning to keep building upon its lead.
Four Bearcats had multi-hit efforts on Friday, including Christian Mitchelle who went 3-for-4 with a couple RBI. Luke Sefcik, Landyn Vidourek, and Josh Kross all had two-hit days.
Sefcik had two doubles and drove in two runs, and both Dalton Pearson and Josh Hegemann tallied two RBI as well.
Tommy O'Connor walked and doubled to extend his on-base streak to 24 games dating back to last season.
Nathan Taylor struck out seven in five innings of work and earned his third win of the year. The freshman hurler retired the first 10 batters he faced.
Ryan Insco and Brendan Garula were solid out of the bullpen, combining to throw four shutout innings to end the game.
Cincinnati and Northern Illinois will face off in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon. Game one will be a seven-inning contest, while game two will be a full nine-inning game.
// HOW IT HAPPENED
Nathan Taylor sent down the first 10 NIU hitters of the game, striking out four of them, and was provided an early lead thanks to the Bearcats' two-run third inning. Luke Sefcik opened the inning with a double, then Christian Mitchelle drove him home with a two-bagger in the very next at-bat. Mitchelle stole third to put himself 90 feet away from scoring, and eventually touched home on Josh Hegemann's sac fly to make it 2-0.
NIU's Ryan Summerhill tied the game at 2-2 with a two-run homer in the top of the fourth, but the Bearcats reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning.
UC loaded the bases with three straight singles to begin the inning and Sefcik broke the tie with a sac fly to put the score at 3-2. Two batters later, Dalton Pearson laced a double into left field to bring home two runs and Mitchelle later scored on an RBI fielder's choice to make it 6-2.
Summerhill's second home run of the game was a three-run shot in the top of the fifth to put NIU within a run, 6-5, but the Bearcats got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double by Landyn Vidourek.
Cincinnati scored two runs each in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to put the game out of reach. Sefcik and Mitchelle drove in runs in the seventh to push the Bearcats' run total into double-digits, while Tommy O'Connor's RBI double and Josh Kross' RBI fielder's choice provided more insurance runs in the eighth.
Ryan Insco shut down the Huskies in the sixth and seventh frames and Brendan Garula threw scoreless eighth and ninth innings to keep NIU off the scoreboard for the remainder of the night.
// 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.