UC Bearcats Baseball: Cincinnati Shuts Out 12th Ranked Houston Cougars
By Chris Bains
Courtesy: gobearcats.com
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We at Cincy on the Prowl don’t devote much of our attention to Cincinnati’s non-football or basketball sports. Full disclosure, those two programs are what drive our interest when it comes to UC athletics and as such drive most the posts here. But by golly do we get excited when one of the sports pulls off a huge upset like the baseball team did today.
Taking on 12th ranked Houston in AAC play this afternoon, the Cincinnati Bearcats not only beat the Cougars but boasted a shutout. Houston came into Marge Schott Stadium today with an impressive 30-11 record. Cincinnati, not so much. The Bearcats with first year head coach Ty Neal at the helm had just 15 wins to their name. But the 16th one put a bright spot on the season.
Sophomore starting pitcher Connor Walsh threw up goose eggs for 7 straight innings while the UC bullpen closed out the Cougars. Combined the pitching staff notched 6 strikeouts, allowed just 3 hits, and stranded 8 runners. Offensively the Bearcats got just enough from their bats to win. Cincinnati’s veteran Justin Glass knocked in a pair of ‘Cats with sophomore Forrest Perron adding the third. It wasn’t much but with the way UC’s pitchers were wheeling and dealing, it was all they needed.
With the win Cincinnati’s record improves to 16-24 but it was just their fourth win in conference play. There hasn’t been much to cheer about this season as Ty Neal continues to transform this team. They’re young and talented but are still trying to put everything together. And years from now, hopefully when this team is positioning itself for an AAC Championship, Neal can point to this win over a highly ranked opponent as the turning point for this program.