Cincinnati wins series over Northwestern baseball with Saturday sweep
Following a 10-run outburst on Friday night, Northwestern’s offense scuffled on Saturday, totaling only six runs in the doubleheader and dropping both games at Cincinnati. The Bearcats beat the Wildcats three games to one in the four-game series, and the two losses sent Northwestern to 2-10 on the season, the program’s worst start since 2017.
Game 1 Recap
Bearcats walk it off to win pitching duel 4-2
Cincinnati jumped out to an early lead for the third straight game in the series. Three singles in the first inning from JP Sponseller, Griffin Merritt and Ryan Nicholson off Northwestern’s Michael Farinelli handed the Bearcats a 1-0 edge.
Farinelli rebounded from the first inning and turned in his longest and most effective appearance as a Wildcat. The graduate student stranded runners in scoring position in the second, fourth and fifth innings to shut down the Bearcats’ lineup, striking out five over 6.1 innings of work.
Cincinnati starter Garrett Harker matched Farinelli’s effectiveness, carving through Northwestern’s lineup in the early innings. After pitching three scoreless frames, Harker allowed a towering home run to Stephen Hrustich, his second in as many days, which tied the score 1-1. Hrustich’s big fly left his bat at 104 miles per hour and cleared the right field scoreboard at UC Baseball Stadium.
Northwestern’s best chance to pull ahead came in the sixth inning, as the Wildcats loaded the bases with just one out against Harker. But after a Jay Beshears pop out, Cincinnati center fielder Cole Harting ran down Ruben Fontes’ fly ball at the warning track to keep the game even at 1.
The Bearcats regained the lead in the bottom half of the sixth. Nicholson recorded his second single off Farinelli, stole second base and scored on a Kerrington Cross RBI single with two outs. Northwestern catcher J.C. Santini gunned down Cross attempting to steal second base to end the inning.
Three outs away from defeat, the Wildcats scraped across a run in the top of the seventh and ended Harker’s day. Tommy D’Alise lined a double into the left-center gap, and Patrick Herrera replaced him as a pinch runner. Tony Livermore then came through with the game-tying single down the left field line, bringing Herrera home. Harker struck out Santini and gave way to Ryan Steckline, who fanned Hrustich to send the game to the bottom of the seventh.
UC started the final inning with an infield single and a sacrifice bunt. Harting followed with a walk-off blast to right field off Farinelli to secure the win for the Bearcats. The win was the 100th in a Cincinnati uniform for head coach Scott Googins.
D’Alise had a multi-hit performance in Game 1, and Farinelli took the tough-luck, complete-game loss on the mound. Nicholson and Dondrae Bremner paced the Bearcats on offense with two hits apiece, with Steckline claiming the victory after striking out the only batter he faced. 2,042 fans attended the afternoon matchup, the 4th-largest crowd in UC Baseball Stadium history.
Game 2 Recap
Bearcat bats down Northwestern 16-5
Following a low-scoring affair, both teams showcased some offensive firepower in the first inning of Game 2, as three hitters left the yard. Northwestern gained a brief lead in the top of the first on Ethan O’Donnell’s solo homer against Cincinnati’s Conner Linn. But the Bearcats hit two home runs of their own in the bottom half of the first, with Sponseller and Merritt taking Kellen Pate deep for solo shots.
The ’Cats tied the game in the second on a Herrera RBI double, scoring Luke Tanner from second base. Cincinnati kept up the early offense, adding two runs in the bottom of the second to retake a 4-2 advantage.
Pate pitched two clean innings in the third and fourth to keep Northwestern within two, but the Bearcats widened the gap in the fifth. Bremner led the inning off with a double and came around on Harting’s sacrifice fly. Paul Komistek and Sponseller reached base via walks, resulting in a pitching change for Northwestern. Merritt greeted Wildcats reliever Jacob Scharm with a run-scoring single, opening a 6-2 Bearcats lead.
Sponseller hit his second longball of the game in the sixth, extending Cincinnati’s lead to seven runs. The Wildcats plated single runs in the seventh and eighth innings on an Anthony Calarco RBI groundout and Santini’s first hit and RBI of the day.
Cincinnati tacked on seven insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, including three on Sponseller’s third homer of the game and fourth of the series. Northwestern scored once in the ninth but ultimately fell 16-5.
In the Game 2 loss, Grant Comstock tossed 1.1 scoreless innings for the Wildcats, and Herrera added two hits. Santini caught all 16 innings of the doubleheader. Linn won his first start of the season for Cincinnati in a 6.1-inning, 3-run outing.
Up Next
The ‘Cats will look to bounce back in a four-game series at home against the University of St. Thomas. The series will start Friday at 3 p.m. CT at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park in Evanston.
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