The Bearcats (2-2) prepare for a weekend series vs No. 7 ranked Florida (4-1) down in Gainsville, Florida. The Bearcats know the challenge at hand as the Gators are one of the national powerhouses within college baseball, but for Scott Googins and the Bearcats, it’s an opportunity to showcase their talent early in the season. Florida has been a dominate powerhouse in college baseball over the course of the last few seasons, and this year they headlined by pitcher Hurston Waldrep, who is a projected top 10 draft pick according to the latest MLB mock drafts.
“We are very excited about this upcoming weekend as we prepare to go down to Gainesville, Florida to take on a top-level program,” said head coach Scott Googins.
The Bearcats baseball team currently features ten student athletes from the Tri-State area, including returning players Cole Harting and J.P. Sponseller. Cincinnati has produced a lot of great baseball players over the years, including guys like Ian Happ, Josh Harrison, Kevin Youkilis to name a few. However, the high school baseball here in the Tri-State area has been phenomenal over the last few years as their is a lot of great college ball players from this area.
“It’s a top priority in terms of recruiting, we want to keep the good local talent here,” said Scott Googins. “Cincinnati has great high school and amateur baseball, so we are trying to keep the best players right here in Cincinnati. We feel like we have a great product, and the more we get to keep the great local talent here in Cincinnati, the better the program will be.”
The Bearcats are coming off a four-game series down in Georgia where they took on Georgia State and split the series two games apiece. The Bearcats were led by first basemen Ryan Nicholson who went 6-of-13 for a .452 batting average where he slugged his first home run on the season, as well as a double, and two RBI’s in the series vs Georgia State. The Bearcats open the season with two great series against two powerhouse programs, which is big as they make the transition to the Big 12 heading into the 2023-24 season.
“Georgia State is a really good team, they are really gritty, hardnosed, a tough team. This weekend has really prepared us to head into this series vs Florida,” Googins said. “Our theme this season, has been hit the Reset button, not only to finish strong within the American Athletic Conference, but to be ready for the Big 12. Our focus right now is on the American Athletic Conference, but most importantly it’s on getting back to Bearcat baseball.”
However, game two of the series was ruled a double forfeit by the NCAA after the benches cleared on a double play attempt in the 7th inning with the Bearcats trailing 3-2. The NCAA has ruled it a double forfeit due to the NCAA rule for any player leaving the bench area is an automatic ejection and suspension and both teams exited the bench areas which resulted in a stoppage of that game.
“It was two competitive teams getting after it there in the bottom of the 7th inning, a tight game as we trailed 3-2. There was a ball hit, and on the double play attempt, the Georgia State player went into our guy somewhat hard and things escalated,” said Scott Googins. For people who don’t know, once a player leaves the bench area in a situation like that it results in an automatic ejection and suspension from the NCAA.
