The University of Cincinnati Bearcats baseball team took down the Memphis Tigers for the third consecutive game, closing out the series 8-7.
When the Bearcats matched up against the Tigers for the seventh and final time in the 2017, they were defeated 15-14 in a ten-inning game during American Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament play.
The last time the Bearcats won a three-game series sweep was against Northwestern in March 2016. However, nearly seven years have passed since the Bearcats swept a team in conference play.
“Obviously, it feels really good,” head coach Scott Googins said. “It puts ourselves in a good position for our conference. That’s ultimately what we want to do. It’s tough to sweep teams, so it felt really good. We made a lot of mistakes and, fortunately, we were able to overcome some of them.”
For the first four innings, the Bearcats shut out the Tigers with a 6-0 lead. In the top of the fifth, there were a few mistakes — such as a foot being inches shy of the base or dropping easy fly balls — that awarded the Bearcats three errors and the Tigers three runs, giving them hope for a possible comeback.
Senior catcher Joey Thomas ran to the mound to settle down junior left-handed pitcher Cam Alldred when the bases were loaded.
“Cam [Alldred] is a guy where, if he starts to get hit around or [the game] starts to get tough, he blames himself,” Thomas said. “We made three errors in just that inning, and he was making good pitches. We just weren’t playing good defense behind him. So, if he throws the ball into play or the ball moves enough, and he can hit spots, then he’s going to get people out.”
The Bearcats managed to score twice more — once on a home run by sophomore first baseman Eric Santiago in the sixth. The Bearcats did it again in the eighth as the Tigers fought to catch up, with a bases-loaded walk from senior second basemen Kyle Mottice.
By the end, Thomas helped bring in five of the eight runs while recording his second collegiate big fly.
“It feels awesome,” Thomas said. “Second career — that’s my second this year, too. Trusting the swing and seeing the ball well and putting a good swing on it.”
The Bearcats are now second in the AAC with an overall record of 15-14 and conference record of 6-3.
Next up is a rematch with the Wright State University Raiders in the Joe Nuxhall Classic in Oxford, Ohio, at 3 p.m. Tuesday.