TicketsTULSA, Okla. -- The Cincinnati baseball team will play its final non-conference matchup of the year Tuesday night when it takes on Oral Roberts at 7 p.m. ET.
This contest is almost a mirror image of last year, where the Bearcats and Golden Eagles faced off in between road series at #25 Kansas and TCU. This time, it's Houston and Kansas State, and coincidentally, Cincinnati swept the first weekend each time. Last year's Tulsa meeting saw Cincinnati score five runs in the first en route to a 10-2 win at Oral Roberts.
Cincinnati notched its fifth Big 12 sweep of its three years in the league after it outlasted Houston in 11 innings on Sunday. They have also vaulted into a tie for sixth with TCU.
The Bearcats improved to 16-6 in May (not counting the Big 12 Tournament) under Jordan Bischel. Cincinnati has also claimed its third-straight 30-win season for the first time since 1999-01, and Bischel is three away from 100 wins with the Bearcats.
Derrick Pitts, the hero two Sundays ago with the game-winning homer in the ninth at No. 21 UCF, did it again in the UH finale. Both came with two outs, and while his two-run shot the other day was countered by the Cougars in the bottom half, he won it for good in the 11th on a hustle double. It was a slash play where he chopped a slow grounder to uncovered shortstop.
May is the time for peaking, and Conlan Daniel was no exception. He was a difference-maker in the Saturday nightcap, collecting a career-high four hits that included a homer. Defensively, he robbed one in center field (earning a spot in SportsCenter's Top 10) before stealing a base hit on a diving catch the next inning.
Speaking of peaking, the pitching staff has really turned a corner. UC allowed only six runs over the weekend, matching the TCU sweep in 2024 as the fewest in a weekend under Bischel. Freshmen Connor Blue and Chase Brown excelled over the weekend, with the former going a career-high six innings with only one run, while Brown moved to 4-0 with two scoreless extra innings.
Quinton Coats remains tied with Mike Spina for the school's single-season home run record at 23. That marks ranks fifth nationally and third in the Big 12. His 61 RBI also ranks fourth in the league.
Pitts and Enzo Infelise, who also homered at Houston, lead the Bearcats with .364 batting averages. They not only have 16 extra-base hits and eight HBPs apiece; they are also separated by only one RBI and two total bases. Pitts does have 12 more walks, though. Five of UC's six leading hitters are in their first or second year of collegiate baseball.
The Bearcats are also 14-11 on the road. They were 13-16 last year and 10-15 in 2024. The current five-game win streak is two off from UC's longest of the Bischel era, which includes seven-straight from Feb. 28 to March 10 of this year.