TicketsCINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team held its home opener on Wednesday and run-ruled Bowling Green, winning 11-1 in seven innings.
Cincinnati is now 6-3 on the season and 3-0 in home openers under head coach Jordan Bischel.
Next up for Cincinnati is a three-game series vs. Austin Peay at home this weekend. There are a few changes to the schedule, as Friday’s game will start at 3:00 p.m. and Saturday’s game will start at 3:00 p.m. as well. Sunday’s game is still scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Please keep an eye on GoBearcats.com and Cincinnati Baseball’s social media channels for any further updates.
The winning run in the bottom of the seventh was driven in by redshirt freshman Gavin Brewer, whose RBI single through the right side scored sophomore Quinton Coats.
The Bearcats’ offense was firing on all cylinders on Wednesday. They collected 14 hits and scored in all but one inning to win their third straight game.
Coats homered in the fifth inning, a three-run shot, and redshirt freshman Ryan Tyranski collected a home run as well. While Coats’ blast landed on Sheakley Lawn, Tyranski’s was more unorthodox as he hit a sinking liner to center field that went by the center fielder and allowed him to come all the way around to score for an inside-the-park home run. It was the first inside-the-parker for Cincinnati since Feb. 29, 2020 vs. Oakland when Paul Komistek achieved that feat.
Sophomore Derrick Pitts, who has been one of UC’s top hitters thus far, had another great day at the dish. He was 4-for-5 with a double hitting in the two-hole in the lineup. Coats had two hits too, as did freshman Enzo Infelise. Junior Jack Natili drove in a couple runs to help the cause.
On the mound, freshman Connor Blue made the start and earned his first career win. Blue struck out three in four innings and did not walk anybody, allowing just the one run. A trio of Bearcats each pitched an inning out of the bullpen: sophomores Brennan Eager, Brendin Oliver, and Adam Buczkowski all threw scoreless frames. Buczkowski struck out the side in his only inning of work.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Cincinnati scored two in the bottom of the first. Derrick Pitts’ double off the wall brought in Jackson Smith, and Pitts then scored on Jack Natili’s base hit up the middle.
- Pitts came through again in the bottom of the second, singling to center to bring in Charlie Niehaus and make it 3-0.
- Bowling Green’s lone run of the game came in the top of the fourth on an RBI groundout.
- Natili’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth increased the lead back to three, 4-1.
- Ryan Tyranski had a wild fifth inning, as he made a sliding catch in left field then came to the plate in the bottom half and hit an inside-the-park home run.
- Jackson Reardon scored later in the fifth on a wild pitch, then Quinton Coats blasted a three-run shot over the fence in left field to blow the game wide open and make it 9-1.
- Joe DuSell drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth, bringing int Cincinnati’s 10th run of the game.
- Adam Buczkowski entered the game in the top of the seventh and breezed through the BGSU lineup, striking out the side.
- Gavin Brewer, who had entered the game earlier as a pinch runner, came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh and laced a single through the right side that scored Coats and clinched the run-rule victory for the Bearcats.
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