Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Cincinnati
Cincinnati Drops Herd Baseball, 12-10
4/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 9, 2007
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CINCINNATI - The Cincinnati Bearcats held off a late Thundering Herd rally to come away with a 12-10 victory over Marshall at Marge Schott Stadium on the campus of the University of Cincinnati.
With the win, the Bearcats improve to 18-14, while Marshall falls to 14-17. The Herd has now dropped 12 consecutive games, its longest losing streak since 1999.
Cincinnati jumped on the Herd early, plating a pair of runs in the first three innings of the game. In the bottom of the first, a Neill French home run scored Josh Harrison, who had earlier doubled, to give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead. In the second, UC manufactured two runs on three hits, and in the third, added two more on a Michael Earley double, which plated Harrison. A passed ball by Herd catcher Thad Ledford (Yukon, Okla.) then allowed Earley to score from third to make the score, 6-0.
Marshall got on the board in the top of the fourth inning when Brendan Murphy (Chattanooga, Tenn.) hit his eighth home run of the year off of Bearcat starter John Baird. The Herd added another run after Josh Valle (Brentwood, N.Y.) singled in Brandon Cassamassima (Colleyville, Texas), who doubled earlier in the inning.
UC made the score 9-2 with three more runs in the bottom of the fifth when Tony Campana hit a bases-loaded single that scored three runs. One of those runs was unearned because of a throwing error by Herd centerfielder Mason Chapman (Barboursville, W.Va.).
Marshall added two runs in the top of the sixth when Nate Lape (Huntington, N.Y.) doubled in Jeff Rowley (Buffalo, N.Y.), with Lape coming around to score on an error by Cincinnati left fielder Brian Szarmach.
The Bearcats added three insurance runs, two in the seventh and one in the eighth, to make the score 12-5 heading into the ninth inning.
Cincinnati would need every one of those runs because the Thundering Herd made things very interesting in the ninth. Chapman led off the top of the ninth with a single, and was driven home by Brit Vincent (Bowling Green, Ky.), his third hit of the game. Two batters later, Rowley singled home Vincent, and put runners on first and second with only one out. Lape then came to the plate and hit a three-run homer off of Bearcat reliever Billy Welsh to make the score 12-10. Welsh settled down after facing Lape, his first batter of the game, and retired the side in the ninth to give Cincinnati the win.
Herd starter Ryan Kiel (Los Gatos, Calif.) took the loss for the Herd, which drops his record to 3-3. Cincinnati starter John Baird got the win for the Bearcats.
Chapman and Vincent had three hits apiece to lead Marshall. Cassamassima and Lape also added two hits for the Thundering Herd.
Marshall returns home to play Morehead State Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. at University Heights.
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