Cincinnati Falls to Wright State in the Joe Nuxhall Classic

OXFORD, Ohio – The University of Cincinnati baseball team fell to Wright State 7-6 in the first round of the Joe Nuxhall Classic on Tuesday in Oxford, Ohio.

Wright State scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to clinch the win.

By the way, freshman beginner Tommy Boba allowed three runs on five hits and struck out two in 4.2 innings. Sophomore reliever Garrett Harker (0-4) took the loss for the Bearcats.

Redshirt junior JP Sponseller went 2-5 with two RBIs, a redshirt junior Cole Harting went 2-5 with one run scored and as a sophomore Kerrington Cross was run in two batches with sacrificial flies.

// HOW DID IT HAPPEN

Cincinnati fell behind early when Wright State scored on an RBI single in the bottom of the second.

Landyn Vidourek led off the fourth with an infield single and took second. When Cross had walked, Ryan Nicholson singled to center field to load the bases with no outs. Sponseller delivered a two-run single through the right side to give UC its first lead at 2-1.

In the top of the fifth, Lauden Brooks drew a walk, advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt, took third and raced home on a sacrifice bunt to make it 3-1. The Raiders tied the game with two runs on three hits midway through the home inning.

The Bearcats quickly grabbed the lead in the top of the sixth. Harting singled to left, advanced to third on a single by Sponseller and scored on a sacrifice fly. Kameron Guidry. UC added another run in the bottom of the seventh Sean Springer was hit by a pitch and came around to score on Cross’ sacrifice fly to center field.

Wright State rallied with four runs in the bottom of the seventh to jump back in front, 7-5. The Raiders took advantage of two Bearcat errors in the inning.

Cincinnati drew three straight walks to load the bases in the eighth. Guidry ran home on a wild pitch, but the Bearcats had two runners on to end the inning.

Senior Assistant Jackson Murphy pitched a scoreless eighth, but the Bearcats couldn’t capitalize on their final at-bats and fell 7-6.

// NEXT 
Cincinnati will travel to Memphis for its first conference road series starting Thursday, with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at FedExPark Avron Fogelman Field in Memphis, Tenn.