Cincinnati Tops UAB to Advance in C-USA Tournament, 9-4

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Cincinnati scored five runs in the seventh inning as the Bearcats defeated UAB, 9-4 on Thursday afternoon at Florida Power Park to earn a bye on Friday. The victory puts UC into the winner's bracket where they will face the winner of tomorrow's Southern Miss-UAB game on Saturday at 9 a.m.

Junior Curtus Moak (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton) earned his second win of the tourney, matching Tyler Kee of Southern Miss, who won a pair of games in the 1998 season. The victory was the 34th of the season for Cincinnati, matching the school record set in 1995 by the Great Midwest championship team.

"I'm so proud of the way our guys have played the last two weeks," said Cincinnati head coach Brian Cleary. "The bigger the game, the better we have played, and that is the mark of a good team. We played well defensively and I'm especially proud of the effort we've gotten on the mound."

Cincinnati broke the game open with five runs in the top of the seventh thanks to five hits and a pair of Blazer errors. Kevin Youkilis (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore), Brad Schutz (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) and Kevin Wilson (Yardley, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) each had RBI singles, while Craig Tewes (Erlanger, Ky./St. Henry's) laced a two-run single to cap the scoring.

The Bearcats (34-24) got on the board in the third inning when Craig Tewes (Erlanger, Ky./St. Henry's), who had led off the inning with a single, scored on a double play grounder to give UC a 1-0 lead. The Blazers answered that with two runs against UC starter Mike Heis in the fourth. Dan DeMent scored on an error and Christian Reimers plated another run to give the Blazers their first lead of the game.

Cincinnati regained the lead with a two-out rally, scoring three runs to gain a 4-2 advantage in the fifth inning. Junior Ryan Minges (Hamilton, Ohio/Ross Senior) hit a monster 425-foot home run to centerfield, only the second home run of the Conference USA tournament. After Youkilis drew a walk and Matt Singer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Purcell Marian) singles, Mark Belcher (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard) blasted a triple into the left-centerfield gap, scoring both runners.

The Blazers (27-31) knotted the score again with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Shaun Harris, who entered the game batting .156 on the season, tied the game for UAB with a single up the middle to make the score 4-4 before Curtus Moak (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton) came in to strand runners on first and second.

Starting pitchers Mike Heis (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain) of UC and Michael Stallings of UAB gave their teams a chance to win with solid performances. Heis went 5.2 innings, allowing three earned runs and six hits before giving way to Moak. Stallings went six innings, giving up four runs and six hits before being pulled.

Cincinnati's 3-5 hitters combined to go 6-for-13 with three RBI and four Bearcats tallied double figure hits. UC's top three hitters (Minges, Youkilis and Singer) combined to score six runs as the table setters.

UAB's Will Smith stole his 51st base of the season in the ninth inning, breaking the previous Conference USA single-season record of 50 held by Gio Cafaro of South Florida in 1996. Smith and teammate Dan DeMent each collected a pair of hits to pace the Blazer offense.

The Blazers will meet Southern Miss tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. in an elimination game. The winner will face Cincinnati on Saturday at 9 a.m. and will have to defeat UC twice to advance to the tournament final. Fox Sports Net will broadcast the championship on Sunday at 2 p.m.