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Quinton Coats Slugs Walk-Off Home Run to Lift Cincinnati over Austin Peay

Coats’ walk-off winner in the bottom of the 10th caps thrilling 5-4 victory

Quinton Coats Slugs Walk-Off Home Run to Lift Cincinnati over Austin PeayQuinton Coats Slugs Walk-Off Home Run to Lift Cincinnati over Austin Peay
Kyle Dressman

CINCINNATI – Sophomore Quinton Coats hit the first pitch of the bottom of the 10th inning over the wall in center field for a walk-off home run in Cincinnati’s wild 5-4 win vs. Austin Peay on Friday.

The Bearcats trailed for much of the game, and were down 4-1 entering the bottom of the seventh before scoring two to make it 4-3. Redshirt sophomore Charlie Niehaus then tied the game with an RBI single to right field in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.

Junior Carson Marsh entered from the bullpen and shut down the Governors in the top of the 10th, then Coats launched the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the 10th for a walk-off home run, the first of his career and his fifth home run this season.

It was the first walk-off homer for Cincinnati since Kameron Guidry accomplished that feat on April 11, 2023 vs. Miami (Ohio).

Keeping Cincinnati in the game was its bullpen, as freshman Chad Brown, sophomore Adam Buczkowski, and Marsh combined for four scoreless innings. Marsh earned the win with his scoreless 10th, his third of the year.

Junior Jack Natili was 2-for-4, the only Bearcat hitter with a multi-hit effort on Friday. Sophomore Jackson Smith was hit by a pitch for the ninth time this season and also had an RBI double in the seventh. Redshirt freshman Ryan Tyranski walked twice and scored from second on a pick off attempt gone wrong for Austin Peay.

Junior Nathan Taylor made the start and struck out nine in six innings of work, walking none.

The series will conclude on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 12:30 p.m.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Austin Peay scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly in the top of the second to take a 1-0 lead.
  • Enzo Infelise tied it up at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Derrick Pitts led off the inning with a single and came around three hitters later on Infelise’s base hit.
  • The top of the fifth was a difficult inning for the Bearcats, as three errors led to three Austin Peay runs and put the score at 4-1.
  • UC got two of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh. The first run scored when an errant pickoff throw sailed into center field, then the center fielder’s throw went by the second baseman and allowed Ryan Tyranski to score all the way from second.
  • Jackson Smith’s RBI double to left field then made it 4-3.
  • The Bearcats tied it up in the bottom of the ninth. Tyranski led off the inning with a walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Conlan Daniel. Jackson Reardon was hit by a pitch, then Christian Mitchelle moved both runners over with a sacrifice bunt. Facing a 1-2 count, Charlie Niehaus laced a single to right field that scored Daniel easily and made it 4-4.
  • Carson Marsh entered the game in the top of the 10th and threw a scoreless inning to keep it tied at 4-4.
  • Quinton Coats stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 10th and blasted the first pitch he saw over the fence in center field, ending the game.

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