The Cincinnati baseball team had a rough go of things in Clearwater, as they were swept out of the Big East tournament, losing 5-3 to Louisville. The Cards struck first in the second, with a Cade Stallings solo homer. UC stranded their first baserunner of the game on second in inning 3, and the Cards made them pay in the bottom of the inning when Ryan Wright scored Alex Chittenden on a sacrifice fly. The Cardinals added 2 more in the 4th, thanks to singles by Drew Haynes and Adam Engel that scored Stallings and Chittenden respectively.
UC got something going in the 5th. Nic Spence homered down the right field line to make it 4-1. Jake Proctor singled, moved to third on a Jake Saylor single, and scored on a wild pitch. UC couldn’t get closer to 4-2 though, leaving the runner on second with no one out. The Bearcats made another rally in the 7th. Proctor was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored when Saylor singled him home. Saylor was bunted to second, but UC struck out and flied out. UC had a chance to tie the score in the 8th. Justin Glass singled, stole second, but Jeff Thompson got a pair of strike outs, and Cody Ege relleved him to get Spence down swinging. Louisville again made them pay. A lead off walk saw the runner moved to second on a ground out, and scoring on a Zak Wasserman single. That made it 5-3.
UC once again had runners on in the 9th. Proctor singled, Saylor walked. A fielder’s choice got Proctor out at third, but a single loaded the bases with 1 out. Tony Zych got Chris Peter’s to hit into a 6-3 double play to end the game.
The winning line for Louisville was 5-8-0, while Cincinnati had 3-7-1. The Bearcats were paced by a 2-3 game by Jake Proctor. He stole a base, and scored 2 of the 3 UC runs. Jake Saylor was 2-3 with an RBI. Nic Spence was 1-4 with a homer. Dan Jensen got the start, went 5 innings, giving up 4 runs, 3 earned, on 5 hits with 3 strike outs. Nick Johnson relieved him with 3 innings of 1 run, 3 hit baseball. He walked a batter and struck out two.
The Bearcats had a nice run this season. Unfortunately, they got matched up with one of the best teams in the league yesterday, and couldn’t cash in opportunities today. I like the direction UC is going. Next year is the year they are playing in the World Series. Believe it.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
