This afternoon the Bearcats (15-22) welcomed in the red-hot Indiana Hoosiers (26-11) to UC Baseball Stadium as Scott Googins and the Bearcats were looking to bounce back with a huge win after being swept by East Carolina in three games over the weekend. The Hoosiers have turned things on as of late, winning six of their last seven games following last night’s 7-3 win over number 12 Louisville. The Hoosiers lead 19-12 all time, as they defeated the Bearcats 11-4 in the team’s last meeting back on April 20th of 2022.
Sophomore Kerrington Cross had a career day at the plate as he went 3-of-5 with two doubles and five RBI’s. Cross was the spark the Bearcats needed tonight offensively as his two doubles and five RBI’s were both career highs as well.
Cole Harting also had a huge day at the plate as the junior went 1-of-3 with two walks, as well as two runs scored. Freshman utility man Griffin Hugus went 2-of-5 with a double and two runs scored.
Brayden Risedorph (2-0) picked up the win for the Hoosiers tonight while Bearcats sophomore Tommy O’Conner picked up his first loss of the season.
How it happened
The big lefty Tommy O’Conner would look to find his groove early, but the Hoosiers would strike first following an infield single from Hoosier catcher Brock Tibbetts gave the Hoosiers an early 1-0 lead. The Hoosiers would put runners in scoring position, but couldn’t capitalize there early. O’Conner would struggle to find the zone early after, a lead-off walk would come back to haunt as Tyler Cerny roped a two-run homerun to left field to make this a 3-0 game in the top of the second inning.
The Hoosiers would keep the bats hot following their win vs Louisville last night as Carter Mathison and Josh Pyne each would rope RBI singles that would make this a 6-0 game in the bottom of the second inning. O’Conner would finish the day going just 1.1 innings pitch, with five walks, allowing six earned runs. The Hoosiers wasted no time keeping the bats hot, this time Bobby Whalen got in on the action after roping a two out double to right center, driving in Phillip Glasser to make this a 7-0 game in the top of 3rd inning.
The Bearcats bats would come alive in the bottom of the fifth inning following consecutive walks, to put runners on to start the inning. Lauden Brooks, would battle after fouling four straight pitches to work the count full before roping a 1 out RBI single to right field driving in Kam Guidry. The Bearcats would keep the bats hot after Kerrington Cross laced a base clearing double to right center field, his second double of the game as the Bearcats made this a 7-4 game very quickly.
The Hoosiers would get one of those back in the top of the 7th following a double down the right center field gap from Tyler Cerny that drove in Carter Mathison to make this an 8-4 game with no outs. The Hoosiers would load the bases up, before Kory Klingenbeck gunned Tyler Cerny down at third base. However, the very next pitch Devin Taylor launched a monster homerun to deep center field to make this a 11-4 game with 2 outs in the top of the 7th inning.
CJ Dean would come up big in final innings of this one after making a tremendous grab after crashing into the fence, then doubled off the runner at first base in the top half of the inning. Dean, followed up with an RBI single in the bottom of the 9th, driving in Griffin Hugus. The Bearcats would keep the bats hot after Kerrington Cross roped his third base hit of the night driving in Cole Harting and Lauden Brooks. However, the Bearcats weren’t done as Kam Guidry laced a 2 out single to left field driving in Sean Springer, and Kerrington Cross to make this an 11-9 game.
However, the Hoosiers held tough as they defeated the Bearcats 11-9.
Up next for the Bearcats
The Bearcats will be back in action this Friday at 5 pm as they welcome Tulane to UC Baseball Stadium for a three-game series with Tulane.
