Bearcats Baseball now matters. Now that they are in the Big 12, fun to watch, competitive and under the right leadership in head coach Jordan Bischel, they matter. They should be supported like one of the big three sports at Cincinnati.
For four hours Tuesday night, they battled Central Florida right down to the last out. Cincinnati scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game 5-5, the last two runs coming on an infield single with the bases loaded. It’s like the great Yogi Berra once said: “It ain’t over ’till it’s over.” Even after Central Florida went ahead 6-5 in the 11th, on catcher Danny Neri’s third home run of the game, the Bearcats put the leadoff man on in the bottom of the 11th. But as was the case throughout the game, a game where the Bearcats went just 3-14 with runners in scoring position, the Bearcats couldn’t get the tying run home, falling 6-5.
Give the Bearcats credit for giving themselves chances, especially after how they started the game. The Bearcats fell behind 3-0 after the Knights scored a run in each of the first three innings. Freshman right-handed pitcher Nathan Taylor, starting for Cincinnati, was chased after throwing just 31 pitches across 1 1/3 innings pitched.
Senior right-handed pitcher Seth Logue came in and threw 4 2/3 innings of one-run baseball, allowing just four hits. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Griffin Hugus came in and also tossed 4 2/3 innings, including escaping a bases loaded, one-out jam in the top of the 10th. Both relievers’ inspiring efforts out of the bullpen kept the Bearcats in the game, thanks in large part to scoreless 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th innings.
Despite not getting any batter on base until number nine hitter, sophomore right fielder Landyn Vidourek, reached on a walk with two outs in the third, the Bearcats put multiple runners on in the fifth and seventh innings. After scoring a run in the fourth, the first two Bearcats hitters reached in the bottom of the fifth, prompting a pitching change from the Knights. Relief pitcher Dominic Castellano came in and struck out the next three Bearcats hitters to keep the Knights ahead 3-1. After a two-run home run by Neri in the top of the seventh stretched the lead to 5-1, the Bearcats loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with two outs. But a strikeout on three pitches quickly ended the threat.
The Bearcats would cash in in the ninth with their incredible two-out rally, aided by senior Dalton Pearson’s hustle on the two-run infield single to just beat the throw home. A groundout to third ended the threat and sent the game to extra innings.
Cincinnati is still alive in the Big 12 Tournament, but they will now have to make their way through the loser’s bracket. Next up for the Bearcats: facing the loser of Texas Tech and Texas on Wednesday afternoon, which was still in progress at the time of this writing. Wednesday afternoon’s game will get underway at 5 p.m. E.T..
