Series Recap: Alldred’s Gem Salvages a Lost Weekend for the Bearcats

If Cam Alldred had pitched all weekend, maybe the Cincinnati Bearcats would have taken their first American Athletic Conference series of the season. However, the junior left-hander only started on Sunday and the Bearcats went 1-2 over the weekend as league play kicked off against the Tulane Green Wave. UC has now lost seven out of its last 10 games and is 10-12 overall and, obviously, 1-2 in league play. Here’s how the weekend played out.

Game One - Tulane 5, Cincinnati 3

In what was his worst start of the season, J.T. Perez allowed five runs across five innings of work during the series opener. The lefty ace of the UC staff was plagued by control issues, as he walked a season-high five batters while striking out only two, which was a season-low. He also hit two batters as his ERA jumped by almost a full run.

A.J. Kullman gave UC a chance to come back to win, tossing three shutout innings of relief, but a solo home run in the seventh inning from Manny Rodriguez that cut the score to 5-3 was the last offensive salvo for the Bearcats. That homer was Rodriguez’s only hit in five at-bats, while the Bearcats went 5-for-32 as a team. At the least, they did take nine walks, but that was outweighed by 14 strikeouts and 11 runners left on base.

Game Two - Tulane 8, Cincinnati 7

There were some good things in this game, but a lot of bad things as well. Starting on the positive side, A.J. Bumpass recorded his fourth multi-hit game of the month after only registering one in February. The UC right fielder went 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs driven in. Rodriguez (2-for-3, three runs scored, two walks) and Joey Wiemer (2-for-4) all had multi-hit games as well.

On the pitching side, the Bearcats struggled. Starter Nathan Kroger was serviceable, allowing three runs on five hits across five innings. He also struck out five batters. David Orndorff came in from there, and although he had four strikeouts in two innings, he allowed four earned runs. But it was Douge Lowe II who took the loss, as he loaded the bases in the ninth before Jarod Yoakam came in and let up a game-winning single.

Game Three - Cincinnati 1, Tulane 0

If you like pitching duels, this was the game for you. Tulane’s Keagan Gillies worked through eight innings of one-run ball, but Alldred had the upper hand. The southpaw struck out nine batters across seven shutout innings, throwing 108 pitches and allowing just two hits. Alldred had been having some issues recently, with a 7.12 ERA in his last four starts, but he is now 1-2 with a 5.12 ERA following easily his best start of the campaign.

Series MVP - Cam Alldred

Even though Rodriguez did a lot with the bat, Alldred was the reason the Bearcats were able to leave New Orleans with at least one win. Alldred’s performance on Sunday featured a season-high in innings, strikeouts and total pitches. He also recorded a season-low in hits and runs allowed.

On Deck

The Tulane series was just the beginning of a tough week for the Bearcats, who will travel to face Louisville on Tuesday before a three-game set against Houston this coming weekend.