TicketsCINCINNATI – It took 11 innings, but the University of Cincinnati baseball team won the finale of its four-game series vs. UC San Diego on Sunday by a score of 9-8 on Christian Mitchelle’s walk-off home run.
The 11th home run of the series was the biggest as Mitchelle crushed the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the 11th inning over the center field wall to end the game and cap an impressive four-game series sweep. Due to UC San Diego’s travel arrangements, it was determined prior to the inning that the 11th would be the final frame of the day, no matter what. With a tie potentially looming, Mitchelle took matters into his own hands and ended the game.
Over the course of the four games, Cincinnati hit .388 as a team and slugged 11 home runs, scored 47 runs, and had 21 total extra-base hits. On the mound, the Bearcats’ pitchers held the Tritons to a .186 team batting average and struck out 44 while walking just 10.
After the win, UC is now 13-4 and has won 10 of its last 11 games and has scored at least eight runs in seven of those 11 games.
The win capped an otherworldly week by sophomore Quinton Coats. In five games, all Cincinnati wins, Coats hit .500 (11-for-22) with seven home runs, and 17 RBI. He slugged a ridiculous 1.545 and homered at least once in every game. He ended play on Sunday with 12 home runs this season, which ranks second nationally behind Georgia’s Daniel Jackson, who homered twice on Sunday to bring his season total to 14.
Sunday’s win was by no means a sure thing. After easily handling the Tritons in the previous three games of the series, UC found itself trailing 8-7 entering the bottom of the seventh before sophomore Derrick Pitts tied it up with an RBI single. Following two scoreless innings, Mitchelle’s homer sent everyone home in the 11th.
Mitchelle had a terrific week in his own right, hitting .500 (8-for-16) with four home runs and 10 RBI.
On Sunday, freshman Chad Brown earned the win with two scoreless frames to end the game. It was the first win of his collegiate career.
Cincinnati will host Evansville on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. before hitting the road to open Big 12 Conference play at BYU next weekend.
Hear from head coach @BischelJordan following today's win vs. UC San Diego 🗣️#Bearcats | #TenGames pic.twitter.com/aEUgIen83K
— Cincinnati Baseball (@GoBearcatsBASE) March 8, 2026
HOW IT HAPPENED
- UC San Diego scored the first runs of the game in the top of the first, using a wild pitch and a solo homer to take a 2-0 lead.
- Quinton Coats hit a three-run home run to the opposite field in the bottom of the first to give UC a 3-2 lead.
- Cal Sefcik upped the lead to 4-2 in the third. Jack Natili reached on a triple that banged off the wall in right field, and he scored easily on Sefcik’s grounder to shortstop.
- Natili laced one through the left side of the infield that brought in two runs in the bottom of the fourth, increasing the lead to 6-2.
- The Tritons’ Michael Crossland hit a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to cut UC’s lead in half, putting the score at 6-4.
- Cal Sefcik turned in another productive at-bat in the bottom of the sixth, a sacrifice fly to make it 7-4.
- Cincinnati ran into trouble in the top of the seventh when Gabe Camacho put UC San Diego in front with a grand slam. An error extended the inning and Camacho crushed a 1-1 pitch to deep right field to give his team an 8-7 lead.
- The Bearcats weren’t down for long as Derrick Pitts tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single.
- In the bottom of the 11th, Christian Mitchelle hit the first pitch he saw out to center field to end the game.
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