TicketsCINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team remained in Utah following its series at BYU and is set to face Utah Valley on Monday and Tuesday in non-conference action.
First pitch for Monday’s game is set for 7:35 p.m. ET and the Tuesday game will begin at 1:05 p.m. ET. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
This brief two-game set will be the first time Cincinnati and Utah Valley have ever met on the diamond.
The Bearcats will be looking to bounce back after opening Big 12 Conference play this past weekend at BYU, where they dropped two out of three against the Cougars. BYU won the first game, 5-2, and UC took game two by a score of 9-7. Cincinnati led early in game three, but BYU surged ahead in the middle innings and grabbed a lead it would not relinquish.
Cincinnati’s 15-6 record through 21 games is its best since 2000, when the team won 16 of its first 21.
While the rest of the conference is set to finish its first series of the year on Sunday, UC ended entered the day as one of three teams with a team batting average above .300 and a team ERA below 4.00, joining West Virginia and Kansas State. The Bearcats’ pitching staff leads the conference with 195 strikeouts and also ranks fifth in fewest walks allowed, having surrendered just 66 free passes.
At the plate, Quinton Coats continues to mash with the best of them. The sophomore homered twice at BYU and now has 14 on the season, which is tied with Georgia’s Daniel Jackson for most in the country. He is tied for third in the nation with 36 RBI and his .933 slugging percentage ranks ninth nationally. Coats has homered nine times in the month of March and has 22 RBI, a stretch of just nine games.
ABOUT UTAH VALLEY
Utah Valley is 10-7 this year and has won four straight games, sweeping a three-game series vs. Northern Colorado and defeating Colorado Mesa at home last Wednesday. UVU ranked 27th nationally with 39 stolen bases entering play this past weekend and is led by Kaden Carpenter and Mason Strong in that category, who each have six thefts. Monday’s projected starting pitcher, Colton Kennedy, has 20 strikeouts in 18.1 innings pitched. The staff as a whole has allowed just six home runs in 17 games.
NEXT UP
After spending nearly a week in the state of Utah, Cincinnati returns home next weekend to, coincidentally, host Utah for in its first home Big 12 series of the year. Game one at UC Baseball Stadium is set for Friday, March 20 at 6:00 p.m. Game two on Saturday, March 21 will start at 3:00 p.m., and the series will conclude on Sunday, March 22 at 1:00 p.m.
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