TicketsCINCINNATI – An excellent start from junior Nathan Taylor and an eight-run sixth inning propelled the University of Cincinnati baseball team to a 13-4 win vs. Utah on Friday night at UC Baseball Stadium.
Taylor struck out 10 in seven innings of work, the only blemish on his stat line being a two-run home run in the third. It was his second double-digit strikeout game of the season and the fourth of his career and his longest outing of the year.
The eight-run inning the offense produced in the bottom of the sixth was the biggest of the year for the Bearcats and the biggest since March 6, 2024 when they scored eight in an inning against Akron.
Prior to the big inning, the game had been all Utah. The Utes led, 2-1, after five-and-a-half frames before UC exploded, batting around and plating eight to turn a close contest into a blowout. A leadoff walk started the inning, then Cincinnati rattled off five straight singles before recording the first out of the inning. The biggest hit came from sophomore Derrick Pitts, who capped everything off with a bases-clearing double.
Pitts was 2-for-4 with three RBI on Friday, one of four Bearcats with a multi-hit effort. Junior Cal Sefcik and senior Christian Mitchelle had three hits apiece, and Sefcik matched Pitts’ RBI total with three. Sophomore Conlan Daniel drove in a couple runs to help the cause, and freshman Enzo Infelise reached base three times with two hits and a walk.
The win pushed Cincinnati’s record at home to 9-1 this season. UC has now scored at least 10 runs in half of its home games this season.
Game two is set for Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- A two-run home run off the bat of Utah’s Jake Long in the top of the third put the Bearcats in a 2-0 hole.
- Cincinnati got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Cal Secfik scored on a 6-3 double play make it 2-1.
- After giving up the home run in the third, Nathan Taylor really settled in, allowing just two baserunners and recording seven strikeouts over the next four frames.
- The Bearcats totally broke it open with an eight-run sixth inning to make the score 9-2. They sent 12 hitters to the plate and used six singles and a double to grab the reins. Derrick Pitts’ bases-clearing double with two outs was the big hit of the inning, turning a four-run lead into a seven-run lead.
- Christian Mitchelle’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh pushed UC’s run total into double digits and upped the lead to 10-3.
- Utah got two of those runs back with a two-run single in the top of the eighth to put the score at 10-4.
- UC tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth, two of which came home on a two-run single from Cal Sefcik.
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