TicketsCINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati baseball team, up to 27-15 on the year, is set for its penultimate midweek game of the year when it heads to Wright State on Tuesday afternoon (3 p.m.).
Cincinnati has won six of eight after claiming a critical road series at No. 21 UCF this weekend.
Around this time last year, the Bearcats rebounded from a sweep at West Virginia to win seven of eight and earn a firm spot in the NCAA at-large picture.
Jack Natili homered four times over the week, including his second 3-homer game of the season in Sunday's finale, which also included Derrick Pitts' game-winner in the ninth. The Bearcats improved to 11-12 in ranked games under Jordan Bischel and 3-1 this year.
Natili and Pitts are tied for the team-lead with 19 multi-hit games, and Natili boasts the only five-hit performance as well. Other notable runs include Ryan Tyranski's 10-game hit streak and Enzo Infelise reaching safely in 24-straight.
Quinton Coats is now tied for the single-season school record with 23 homers, on off the national lead. He is also third in RBI, third in total bases and 13th in slugging. The Bearcats are 16-3 when he goes deep.
Adam Buczkowski turned in a career week. He went 3 1/3 scoreless innings (one hit) against Xavier, entering with a 5-4 lead before UC ultimately run-ruled the Musketeers. Sunday, he entered with Cincinnati down 9-5, proceeded to strike out his first two batters, and then go a season-high 3 2/3 innings with a career-high eight punch-outs as the Bearcats rallied to win. He leads Cincinnati with four wins, 19 appearances and a .148 opponent batting average.
Jackson Smith is 11th nationally and comfortably atop the Big 12 with 20 hit-by-pitches. Cincinnati worked the bases Saturday with 10 walks and four HBPs, its highest combined total since 10 and five in the season opener at Jacksonville State.
Infelise earned his first two Big 12 starts at catcher this weekend, with the freshman also completing a Sunday rookie battery with Connor Blue. He leads the team with a .372 batting average, including his fifth homer last Tuesday to close the Xavier game. Infelise is one of seven Bearcat starters hitting .301 or better, and he has nabbed 4-of-9 steal attempts.
Cincinnati won the first matchup, 8-5, on March 31. They faced anticipated starter JJ Thompson for the first three innings, scoring four runs on five hits. Coats and Cal Sefcik each homered, the latter coming in a four-run sixth to break the tie.
The Bearcats are 16-3 when scoring in the first inning and 23-5 when plating six or more runs. Cincinnati is also 11-10 on the road this year, which includes the eight-game gauntlet to open the spring. It was 10-15, followed by 13-16, in each of Bischel's first two seasons. Cincinnati's highest run-differential innings are the first (33-15) and eighth (42-13).