TicketsORLANDO, Fla. — The Cincinnati baseball team topped No. 21 UCF, 9-3, Saturday night at John Euliano Park. With the win, the Bearcats improve to 26-15, 7-10 in Big 12 play, while the Knights drop to 21-14, 11-6 in conference play.
The rubber match between the two teams is set for noon Sunday in Orlando.
A Derrick Pitts two-out double to left put the Bearcats on the board in the top of the first before Andrew Williamson took Cincinnati starter Logan Knight deep for a solo sheet to even the score in the bottom of the frame.
Things stayed quiet until the fourth, when Jack Natili was hit by a pitch and Enzo Infelise singled through the left side two put two aboard. However, a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout threatened to thwart the Bearcats’ rally but Conlan Daniel smoked a three-run shot to left-center to put Cincinnati on top 4-2.
In the meantime, Knight settled down to allow just two runs on five hits while punching out five over six frames. The second run Knight allowed was a John Smith III solo home run to right in the bottom of the sixth but the Bearcats responded by plating five runs on five hits and a UCF error to push the advantage to 9-2.
Adam Brouwer pitched the final three innings to record the save for Cincinnati. Jackson Smith, Infelise and Daniel each had two hits apiece for the Bearcats.